Scandalous Love
by Lonewingwriter
Summary: A sequel for "The True Face of Our Teacher". Aizen and Orihime are husband and wife now with a lot of problems, that is when a man with the name Kurosaki Ichigo enters their lives. AU, Ichihime, Aihime.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: **This is a sequel from my other story "The True Face of Our Teacher", an AU, Aihime story. This one "Scandalous Love" is an Ichihime, Aihime story with main focus on Ichihime. To understand this story better and know what happened with Aizen and Orihime ten years ago, I suggest you read the prequel first. The prequel is only a one shot, could take less than 5 minute to read. Click on my penname Lonewingwriter at the top left of this page to go to my profile and read the prequel "The True Face of Our Teacher".

This story set 10 year after Aizen and Orihime were together. They are now husband and wife with a lot of problems, that is when a man with the name Kurosaki Ichigo comes to their life as Orihime's driver and bodyguard. I always want to do a triangle, and I love both Aihime and Ichihime, so there we are.

So I did some editing to this chapter again. This chapter is not betaed, but the rest of the story is beataed. Hope it is better.

**Warning**: not a happy story, lot of drama, angst, tragedy, possible OOCs. Warning for Ichihime fans: a lot of aihime, especially at the beginning of this chapter. For Aihime fans: yahoo for now, but Ichihime of the end of this chapter. For both fans: a lot of Aihime and a lot of Ichihime, read at your own risk. I'll try to balance both, to give both paring adequate amount of screen time. And to Orihime fans: Hehehehehehe. Enough for now, enjoy the story and tell me if you want me to continue.

(Post 6/4/11)

**Disclaim: **I do not own Bleach

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><p>Today was Valentine day. It had been ten years since their first Valentine. She bit a small chocolate, unable to keep her tears falling. Sousuke, after all, still hated chocolate. What was the point of making him any though? Thinking back on their first Valentine made Orihime sob uncontrollably on her pillow. Sousuke was right, there was no such thing as love or compassion in this world. When she was young, she thought that love could change anything, she thought that she could heal him, fill him with love, and make him happy. Such a naive thought! It was her mistake to marry him, to be with him in the first place although she knew from the beginning what kind of person he was. There were time when she thought he changed, when she thought that they could be together, and their love was enough. Love was never enough, and now as their love had begun to fade through time, their distance grew bigger and she felt like she could not touch him like before. His heart had been too far away for her to reach.<p>

XxXxXx

12:00 Valentine had officially passed. Their ten years together had officially passed. This was the first Valentine for the past ten years that she was alone, and she had the feelings that from now on she would be alone, returned to the same way she was 10 years ago. She was losing him, no to be more precisely, she had decided to let him go. She no longer wanted to keep him by her side, to try anything and everything to mend their relationship and to be with him. No, she was no longer want to be with him because every time she neared him she could not help but to feel disgust. That man was rotten deep into his core. She cried again.

1:00 She had been crying for the whole hour, and he had not come home yet. He probably was hooking up with one of the young girls who were chasing after him all the time. He was a very attractive man after all, and he was still very young, only 36. With his wealth and power and his charm, there was no doubt countless girls all over him who would be much younger and attractive than she was. No, she was not jealous, in fact, even if it hurt her greatly, she had secretly hoped that he used this time fooling around with another girl, and not to play with another soul, scheming on another life. She cried again, would she ever be tried of crying?

3:00 She suddenly woke up as she felt someone kissing on her neck. Did he even know that his body fulled of perfume? He continued kissing her, his hands all over her body. And then he entered her. She could not help but to let tears fall again. If he was still the old Sousuke, he would know she was crying, but he knew nothing, he quickly fell asleep once his needs were satisfied. No the old Sousuke would never violate her, intruding her without her consents, and he would not come home this late, disturbing her sleep to full fill his desire. She cried again, he was not in love with her anymore. Without their love, there was no thing left for her to be with him anymore. She would not cry for him anymore, this was the last time she wasted any tear for him. From this time on, she would stop loving him because he was not worth it, not anymore.

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><p>5:00 Aizen woke up earlier this morning. He always woke up early, he was now a very important man who could not afford to waste any second of his time in vain. He should be ready to work now although he still felt a little left out from the wild night. As he stirred up, he noticed his wife was in his arms. No matter what happened, he could not help but felt so right having her in his arms. As he was combing her hair with his fingers, he smiled. She was his and his alone, his most precious possession, no matter how many women he slept with, no one could compare to Orihime. She was his angel. He sighed, then again, he needed no angel, recently he was getting more and more tired of her nagging about morals and ethics. He had hoped that she understood him better. He had thought that she was the only one who could understand him, so why did she continue bother him with things that she knew he did not even give a damn about? Why did she want to change him? Why not accept him as he was, love him for the man he was? He sighed again, he was not blind, he knew that for the past years her love had changed, she did not love him the same way she did before. He could feel it when they were together, no more warming smiles at him, no more kisses with full of passion and love, no more responses to his touch, no more sweet words to encourage him, comfort him. How he missed her voice, her gentle voice whenever she called his name, whenever she poured into his ears words of passions, of love. He knew they were soul mate, there would be no women in this world could touch his soul the way she did nor men to touch her. But then, even if they were soul mate, even if they could understand each other greatly, she refused to accept him. That's why he had to find other women, especially young ones to fill in the gap. He had hoped that he could somehow find a new version of the young Orihime who loved him wholeheartedly, responded to every single of his touch and touched him in an unimaginable way. But no one, no one could ever compare to her, not even in the slightest. They could not even compare to the present Orihime who had not loved him the same way she had before.<p>

He smiled again, then last night they had made love. It had been a long time since they do so. Those women last night were so disgusting that he could not help but to want to be with her again even if she was not like before. When he was with her last night, he felt like his whole body was purified, and even she didn't response to him as she was sleeping, just the feel of her body and the smell of her had sent him to heaven. She had a perfect body, the one of a goddess. Yes, that was right, no women could ever compare to Orihime, past or present.

"Sousuke?"

Oh, how he missed her voice, when was the last time he heard her voices, 1, 2, or 3 weeks? Not wanting to hear her nagging, he had been in his other mansion for the whole month. How did he miss her! He turned to her and kissed her passionately, telling her how much he missed her, how much he was still in love with her.

She pushed him away. She pushed him away. This was the first time since the day they were together that she pushed him away. He looked at her again, how sad her eyes were. He had never seen her eyes look this sad before, not just sad, but resentment, guilt, and a little bit of determination? Guilt of what? Determination of what? He got up and looked at the closets, under the bed, the bathroom, every where trying to find a sign of any man in the room. He would kill him, whoever dared to touch her.

"What are you doing, Sousuke?"

"To find the damn man who dare to touch you."

She laughed. This was the first time in the long time that she laughed.

"Sousuke, please don't be so childish. There is no man."

"Really?"

She could not hold another laugh back as she looked into his eyes. As a master of manipulation as he was, he always showed her his true face, no lie, no mask. His eyes now were that full of hope, a little bit doubt, and still some trace of anger. She laughed again as his face was so childish now with the way his eyes looked. She got closer to him, tracing her fingers on his cheek, and put a chaste kiss onto his lips. All of her resolve to not love him anymore were begun to fade.

"There is no one. No one could be like you. No one could ever touch me because my heart already belonged to you"

"As my heart belonged to you"

Then he kissed her again, felt more relief, she still loved him, he knew it. This was the same as before, nothing would change. They would be together like before, he had been thinking too much. At that time, the phone began to ring again.

"Sousuke, stop. The phone is ringing."

"Who cares?"

"Please, it might be important"

As he frustratedly opened the phone he mistakenly pressed the loud speaker. Big mistake.

"Aizen, honey, are you there? Last night was wonderful, so I wonder if you want to have breakfast with me, you know my house right. We could..."

He tried to press the end call button as soon as possible, but it was too late. Orihime turned around, not saying another word, and heading to the bathroom. Any word now would be in vain, he would wait for her to calm down and explain later. He sighed, making a mental note for himself to make that stupid woman as miserable as possible. What was her name, again? Who cares? He would find out soon enough, and prepare an adequate reward for what she did.

For now, he needed to eat something, getting more energy before he could deal with Orihime and head back to work. As he walked to the kitchen, he noticed a bunch of chocolate on the table. Chocolate, for who? He raised his eyebrow again, his suspicion was confirmed. As Orihime came to the kitchen, he asked, anger in his voice:

"Whose those chocolate for?"

Orihime sighed, not even looked into his eyes, turned her back to his, and getting herself some tea.

"Before you come to any conclusion, why not try it first?"

"You know I never like chocolate."

"Then do what you want."

Orihime was so cold with him, way too cold, but his anger made the best out of him. He bit a piece, relieved. This was bitter, very bitter, she made a very dark chocolate and put some rum into it, his favorite rum. It tasted very good although he did not like chocolate, he did not mind to take another piece; if it was from Orihime, even the nastiest thing could be very tasty.

"I'm sorry."

"You know what Sousuke, if you are so suspicious, you should stop meeting all of those women, then you would not assume I will do the same."

"You know me better than that. Those women are just trash compared to you, they are not even worth being my appetizer or dessert. You are the only woman I have in my eyes. Beside, I am not base my suspicion in pure jealousy. I saw a glint of guilt in your eyes earlier when you pushed me away."

"How many time do I have to tell you, Sousuke, that people are not trash. They are human beings, like us, they have feelings just like you and me. Stop treating them like your plaything, stop playing with people' hearts."

"We have touched in this topic many time before, and I don't want to argue any further, neither do I want to push my opinions on yours the way you push mine. But you evade my question, why are guilt in your eyes when you kiss me if not you did something wrong to me?"

"You would not want to hear it."

"I damn well want to hear it. Answer me."

"Many reasons, but I'll make it short. Momo Hinamori."

"Again, how many time do we have to go through this? You try to evade the question again. You did nothing wrong to her, and how it is related when we kiss?"

"I just saw the news yesterday. She is dead. And do you want to know why? I guess you know it well. She committed suicide. The news said that she could not bear the life in prison and the views of people toward her, so she decided to end her life by hanging herself with her favorite scarf."

"So she died. Believe me, Orihime, I am as upset with the news as you are. But she is the past, we should not let her intrude our life. We should head to the future."

"Are you kidding me? Do you think I am blind? Momo loved you, that scarf was the present you gave her and she treasured it more than her life, there is no way she wanted to stain it with her death."

"But it can also be that because she treasured it too much that she wanted to use it to end her life. It makes more sense this way, doesn't it? Human nature is very complex, there is no way you or me can understand it thoroughly, as intelligent as we are."

"Human nature indeed is very complex. So I can not understand why there could be a cold blooded person in this world who framed his favorite student and his most loyal subordinate for his own crime, abandoned her only after claiming her heart and body. And now, to end her life in his amusement, he decided to mark his involvement in her death by making her hang herself with the only present he has ever given her."

"You are getting more and more ridiculous. How can you accuse your own husband like that? Do you even have any evidence?"

"I have none of that, and don't talk to me about evidence because I know you don't give a damn about law and order, but I know what you have done. I am being with you long enough to know what really is happening."

"So all of these are your own interpretations and assumptions. I must remind you, Orihime, that you are still very naive, don't ever assume things. Beside, as I told you many time before, there is no truth in this world as there is no such thing as right and wrong, only raw facts. People use their own judgments and assumptions to twist those facts and make them their reality, their truth. The fact is Hinamori died, nothing more, nothing less. There is no evidence or supporting facts that either you or me involve in her death and therefore we should not let it affect our life. Look at me, forget about Hinamori, forget about anything else, right now, it is just you and me. The fact is I love you, don't that enough to you? I know you love me too. Do you still want to be with me?

_Flash back:_

"_Do you want to be with me?"_

_She looked at him again. His eyes filled with lust and desire, but she could see deep in there that he was care for her, a genuine care, different with the fake care that he always showed to his students. For the first time in her life, she trusted him. She didn't know if it was a right decision, but she decided to trust him. She nodded._

"_I trust you, and I want to be with you, now and forever."_

It was still the same question, but what she was about to answer him today would be different. Before she didn't know whether or not she should trust him, but now she knew for sure. She would not. It was not like she could not trust him for herself, no she knew that he would never do anything to harm her, but she could not trust him for what he would do to others. Before she thought that people could be changed, that there was no such thing as pure evil at birth. But she was wrong, his nature was that could not be changed, something that was deep into his core that she cannot reach. Before she could answer him, there was a knock on the door, so she decided to talk about it later and went to get the door.

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><p>Her first impression about the man in front of her was that he was so handsome, his orange hair was so bright that it almost made her eyes go blind. She was stun there, enchanted completely by his beauty. It was not about his physical beauty. No, she was not the kind of girl that went for appearance. And beside, her husband was also devilishly handsome, the kind of beauty of a god whose charm kept drawing people in, controlling their body and soul. To be honest, compared to her husband's charm, this man in front of here now was nothing, just a normal handsome man. But there was something about him that made she feel so warm and at the same time she could feel a slash of pain in her heart. Like she knew him, long before, like she always wanted to be with him and him only, like she was waiting for him, for a long long time. She felt so safe right now, this man made she feel so safe that all of her angry and frustration and sadness were gone. She felt like she was home now, warm and safety.<p>

"So you are Kudosaki Ichigo, right?"

"It's Kurosaki Ichigo, Aizen-sama. It's my pleasure to meet you."

So his name was Kurosaki Ichigo. What a nice name. She blushed. Then she mentally shaking her head. What was she doing now? Blushing like a high school girl. She was a married woman, for god's sake, and no matter how bad her marriage was right now, no matter how handsome the man in front of her was right now...or ...no matter how cute he was right now with a scowl in his face (she blushed again), no she had no right to blush at him. Did he just raise his eyebrow at her? Oh my god, could this man be any cutter? She mentally wanted to spin around on the floor to release all of her excitements. This was bad, she should ask Sousuke what was the business of this young man here and sent him away.

"Sousuke.."

"Oh, Orihime, this is Kudosaki Ichigo, he will be your new driver and body guard from now on."

"His name is Kurosaki Ichigo, Sousuke. And what happened to Hiaki-san?"

"He just resigned yesterday"

She raised her eyebrow, she had a bad feelings about this.

"And why does he have to resign?"

"That you should ask him, I have no idea."

"Is this so?"

"I have to go Orihime, mind if I bring those chocolates to work, they are delicious. Thank you, honey."

He leaned closer and kissed her on her cheek.

"I think you don't like chocolate."

"There is nothing that I don't like if it comes from you, Orihime"

He looked into her eyes again and said

"I love you"

She looked at him, did not answer, but she could not stop herself and put a chaste kiss on his lips, which turned out to be a very passionate kiss. What were they doing in front of a guest? She was not used to show affection with her husband in front of others. And then she remembered, that this was not a normal guest but a very dangerous creature that needed to be sent away.

"Sousuke, I told you this many times but I don't need a driver or a body guard, I can drive myself, and what is the point of having a body guard. I'm just a normal high school teacher who certainly does not need a body guard. Think about how my students and colleagues would think about me when I have an expensive car with a driver and a bodyguard, certainly it is not very appropriate in an education environment where..."

"That's why I told you to quit your job already. The wife of Aizen Sousuke does not need to work. Beside, you do not have a very expensive car with a driver and a body guard, you just have a very normal affordable car with a driver who is also a body guard. And who dares to talk in your back while you are the wife of the one who owns the whole school? We have talked about this so many time that I am so tired to repeat myself but I did agree to not have a maid or more servants, and live in this small house like a normal couple with you, so you have to compromise with me and agree to this small request. I do all of this for your safety."

"And what do you do out there that make you are so concerned for your wife's safety?"

"I really have to go. We will talk about this later."

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><p>"Hi there. Are you still there? I just want to properly introduce myself. My name is Kurosaki Ichigo, and I am your new driver and body guard"<p>

"H-he-llo, Kurosa-saki, Kurosaki-kun, my name is I-in, um, I m-mean Aizen Sousuke, um, I mean Aizen Orihime. Very nice to meet you."

'Kurosaki-kun?

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><p>Please the button review below if you like this story and want me to continue.<p> 


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: **Oh god, a month has passed, but I have finally been able to update this story. The reason for the lateness was because I had to find a beta and wait for her to edit this story. I hope that it will turn out better than last time.

Here are some announcements for this story.

First, I will continue this story, but it will probably take me a long time to update since I have works and other obligations plus I need to finish my other fics too; and more important, I have this story beta, so it will take more time to update than it should be.

Second, we officially have 12 reviews but I made a mistake and removed the story when it reached 5 reviews so now you will only see 7 reviews there. My deepest apologies for the lost reviews; I just had an account by the time I published chapter 1 so I didn't know much about the fanfic system. But I remember all of the reviews and will answer all of your questions properly.

Third, question about the rating. Yes, I do want to keep this as a T-rated fics so that everyone could enjoy it. However, I am not a 100% sure about this. As a writer, I don't want to confine myself in any rules or predetermination, if it is necessary for the flow and the progress of the story to have an M-scene, so be it. If it is not that important, I prefer to keep it as T-rated fic.

Fourth, like I just said, lemon is possible, but threesome is an absolute no no. It is not my cup of tea, and it is not where the story will be headed. So sorry.

Fifth, about the tragedy part. I don't want to spoil the fun of reading this fic, so I will not spill anything out. I classify this as a drama/tragedy fic so that will be the way the story goes. Don't worry too much about it, this story will lean more toward drama and romance; but tragedy will probably be at the end, I always want to try a tragedy but haven't gotten a chance yet; so this would be my first experiment on this genre. It's up to your own definition of what a tragedy story should be.

Wow, too much on an A/N, please enjoy the chapter and let me know what do you think of it.

**Disclaim:** Do not own Bleach

(7/6/11)

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><p>Aizen's first impression about Kurosaki Ichigo was that he did not like this man. He was too handsome for his liking. He would prefer an older, bad looking man. But it did not like he had any other choices, the man was the only one who met all of the qualifications. Beside, it was not like Orihime would fall for such a man, not when she had himself as her husband.<p>

Like usual, it had been exhausting for him to argue with her about the same old, tired issues they had gotten into spats about countless time before. He shook his head; he could not keep his rationality and calmness whenever he was with her. He was like another person with her around, and he even acted like a jealous schoolboy. That was so ridiculous. Now that he was thinking more clearly, there was no way that Orihime would have another man. First of all, she was, and had always been, a strictly ethical person, her principles entrenched deeply in her heart that even he could not change it, molding it the way he wanted. Of course that was partly because he did not want to change it completely, if he did she would not be the same Orihime that he loved. And that part of her, the part that was full of moral and principles, was what had always drawn him in. They said opposite attracted, and that was true. Her compassion and her morality were what he claimed to hate the most were also what he found attractive about her the most.

But at the same time, their differences also killed him slowly, seeing how it began to pull them apart. Then again, she would not betray him because she was the one who was stick with her moral beliefs. He smiled. Despite their fights this morning, they also had very sweet moments, it had been a very long time since she had said something so nice to him, to kiss him with such passion. He smiled again, putting a chocolate piece into his mouth, and to make something just for him. He needed not to worry because second of all, the most important thing was that she was still in love with him, not the same way as before, but still in love with him. That, he knew for sure. He was the only person she had in this world, he had taken great measures to make sure of that. He was the only person on earth that understood her and loved her, and for that she would not and could not leave him.

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><p>The first impression Ichigo had of the Aizens was that he did not like them. Of course he did already not like them before he had even met them. His job, after all, was to gather information on Aizen Sosuke- an extremely dangerous man. Disguised himself as a highly successful businessman, he had gained a lot of respects from his contributions to education and philanthropy. He started off his career as a high school teacher, then he quickly built a web of connections within the system and became the principal of his school. With this newfound leadership role came more social ties, and thus he began to spread his hand throughout the business world. Starting with education, then moving on to the venues of entertainment, art, food, and medicine, just to name a few, he had built his own empire, so to speak, in the upper echelons of society. A very powerful man who had influences over the business world, the government, and even the underground. Yes, it was suspected that he was actively involved in illegal activities, and on his way to his throne he had stepped on several innocent lives. The police first had their eyes on him through the arrest of Momo Hinamori, his subordinate and his former student. It was Momo's cousin, captain Hisugaya Toshiro that insisted re-investigate the matter and turned their attention on Aizen.<p>

Ichigo's girlfriend and comrade, police officer Kuchiki Rukia, was in charged of the investigation. Just recently, she had fallen right into Aizen's trap and was arrested for murder, a crime she did not commit. So Ichigo voluntarily asked to become an undercover cop so that he could clear her charge. He would like to ask for a job that was closer to Aizen himself but Urahara Kisuke, the police chief in charge of gathering information on Aizen insisted to ask him babysit this woman.

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><p><em>Flash back:<em>

_Urahara: We have to choose the weakest link in his organization, target people that are close enough to him for us to draw information from. In this case, his wife is the easiest target._

_Ichigo: Why don't we try to draw information directly from him? Assign me to be his subordinate, I will try anything to gain his trust and quickly get some information to free Rukia._

_Urahara: My,my. You are such an impatient fellow. It is not that easy to be Aizen subordinate. We have begun investigate him for 7 years, tried to place countless undercover cop as his subordinates, only a few could get near to him, and most of them end up being killed or being arrested for the crimes they did not commit; and we could not do anything, his plans were always prefect, there was never a loophole to dig into, no mistake to exploit in a court of law. Only one managed to stay alive. We cannot afford to lose any more talents. So that's why we change our target to his wife. According to our information, she is his only weakness. And don't underestimate her, she is also very dangerous._

_Ichigo: Does not look like so to me. _

_Urahara: You may have already noticed this, but she is an extremly attractive young woman._

_Ichigo: I think she looks pretty normal. You don't expect me to fall for her, do you? She is not my type, beside I am a policeman, no way I am going to fall for a dirty, lowlife criminal._

_Urahara: *sigh* That's why I told you that you should not underestimate her. She might look normal to you in this particular photo, but when you meet her, be careful, and I am serious, do not fall for her. She is not as innocent as you think she is. In fact, we suspect that she maybe even more manipulative than her husband. Several agents of mine have been literally knocked flat on sight by her beauty alone. After meeting her for the first time, many have refused to continue the job, claiming that they cannot bring themselves to deceive such an angle. Have you heard of Hiashi Shuhei?_

_Ichigo nodded, Hisagi Shuuhei was one of the best undercover cop. He was the toughest policeman with the heart of a stone. He was absolutely merciless with criminals and had a hundred percent rate of success on all of his undercover missions. _

"_I finally got Hisagi Shuuhei to work as my agent. Under the alias Hiaki, a body guard and driver to Aizen Orihime, he was able to get close enough for her. But when we were just about to get him become Aizen's subordinate, he asked to resign from the position. He said that he could not continue this, deceiving such a good girl, and making her promote him to be Aizen subordinate only to betray him later was like making her indirectly betray her husband. He could not do that for her. Although we had used all reasonable means to persuade him, even asking him to consider how many lives he could have saved, he claimed that he would even resign as a policeman than continue to lie to her; it was beyond his mental tolerance to handle. We later had to give him therapy to help him gain more balance and assigned him to another mission. So there you are, replacing his place as her driver and bodyguard._

_Ichigo: Like I said, if it is so troublesome, why not go directly to the husband?_

_Urahara: Like I said, it is not that easy, and we cannot take the risk. For now, just gain as much information as possible, trying to get close to her and let her promote you to Aizen. After all, he trusts this woman and will listen to everything she said. Your job is to get close to her, earning her trust, and through her access to Aizen, you can easily gain his trust this way. Having her on your side, you could have a higher chance to survive and he might not be on guard with you all the time. It is also expected that she knows a lot about her husband activities, so even if you can not get to Aizen, try to find some information out of her, or just observe them, watch their interactions and conversations, try to filter thing out. If they trust you to a certain extent, they would be more relax around you, and you could find something useful. Ichigo, listen, you have to do this, you are the only person that perfectly fits into this mission. With you, we will have a higher chance to win, I believe you are the key to make this operation success._

_Ichigo: And why is that again?_

_The police chief allowed a sly smile to creep across his face. He leaned forward conspiratorially, and tapped the photo of Aizen's wife that still lay on the desk between them._

_Urahara: Because you are a woman killer. No, you might not realize this, but you are oddly handsome and attractive in a weird way. __The female cops I've spoken with on the matter find you handsome – some of them have fallen for your coldness, some your aloofness, others your scow__l.__ And according to our information, you just maybe her type, the one who could make her fall for easily. _

_Ichigo: Doesn't she have a husband? Are you sure this will work?_

_Urahara: Recently they have been having a lot of problems. Aizen has lovers all over the place and he rarely comes home. She must be very lonely and vulnerable right now, use this chance to get close to her._

_Ichigo: So, basically you want me to flirt with her and bed her?_

_Urahara: The method is up to you, use any means possible to get information our of her and make her trust you. Be careful though, don't be soft. Once you get close to her, you might hold some feelings to her, but don't let this defer your goal. We are dealing with an extremely dangerous criminal. Any mistake you make could mean deaths for many innocent people. I know you have your own principles but sometime we have to set them aside for greater means._

_Ichigo: You know I love Rukia right? Do you want me to sacrifice our love for this operation?_

_Urahara: There is no need for that, I'm not asking you to fall in love with her. In fact, I'm asking you the opposite, do not fall for her but make she fall for you by any means possible. Rukia is also a policeman, she would understand. Once all of this is over, you two can be together again, just like before, but first we need to get her out of prison, and to do so we need your help. You might have to put your conscience aside and deceive this woman. Do you still want to take this job?_

_Ichigo: Is there any other way?_

_Urahara shook his head._

_Ichigo: I will do anything to rescue Rukia and protect the innocents._

_Urahara: Very good, exactly what I want to hear. One more thing, you can keep your name, we have cleared your profile, Aizen would not find a thing about your real life, but you are gay now._

_Ichigo: What? Gay? No, I'm not._

_Urahara: Yes, you are. This is one of the requirements that Aizen sets for the job. His wife's drive and body guard must be a homosexual. He might not look like it, but Aizen is an extremely jealous man, only to his wife though. He is suspicious of everyone around his wife, men or women. But he needs someone strong to protect her from his enemies, so he has no choice but to hire a body guard. He would be a little bit more at ease if the man is gay._

_Ichigo: That man sure is sick. _

_Urahara: Well, then again this also makes you a prefect man for this job. With your look and your abnormal disinterest in women, everyone would easily believe you are gay._

_Ichigo: Hey, I have a girlfriend, you know. _

_Urahara: Does Rukia look like a woman to you?_

_Ichigo: Well,... of course... I guess._

_Urahara: Ok, anyway I'll try to keep in touch with you. I have a candy store in town, you can go there to leave message and contact with me. _

_Ichigo: One more question._

_Urahara: Yes. _

_Ichigo: You seem to know Aizen very well, and you said that you have investigated him for seven years, but as far as I've known, the police have just begun to put an eye on him recently._

_Urahara: It is true. My department has begun our file on Aizen long ago, it was way before he became a businessman and gained his power and wealth as he does today._

_Ichigo: Yes, as far as I know, he just began his own empire five years ago. _

_Urahara: Well, before that. seven years ago, a friend of mine commited suicide, and I was in charged of that case, I knew for sure he was not the type of person who would end his own life. We could not find any evidence indicated otherwise, but I found something in his diary that led me to Aizen. This man is extremely smart, even up to today, I have not been able to find any evidence against him. But I was sure he was involved in my friend death, so I kept his file, continued to keep an eye on him. As he began to gain more power and wealth, his activities became more and more questionable, and I planted several spies in his organization, tried to nail him down. Not much progress though, so you are my only hope now. Be careful though, and good luck. You are dismissed._

* * *

><p>And what was up with this woman. Wasn't she suppose to be a lady, wife of a wealthy man? Shouldn't she be more polite when speaking with strangers? Why Kurosaki-kun? Wasn't it supposed to be Kurosaki-san? He was not a high school boy any more, no one called him Kurosaki-kun anymore. He was a man now. This woman was so weird. First, she looked at him like she saw a ghost, and then blushed at him, and then stuttered, unable to form a sentence, and then stayed there in the back seat of the car, keeping quited for the whole time, trying to avoid any eye contact. What was really wrong with her anyway?<p>

"Aizen-sama, we are almost here. This is your school, right?"

"H-hai, K-Krusaki-kun, I mean Kurosaki-kun. And don't call me Aizen-sama. I don't like the formalities, and besides if you call me so I would not know who are you talking to, me or my husband?"

Somehow she became more calm, and was staring at him firmly. Talking about Aizen made her more, how he could say it, stronger and more determined.

"Then, would you mind if I call you Aizen-san"

"I...I would prefer if you call me...O-Orihime. Orihime is my name."

She insisted looking at her dress, and blushed again. This woman sure blushed a lot.

"Aizen-sama, I'm afraid it is too informal, I don't think I am allowed to say it."

"Oh, if so, call me Inoue. Inoue is my maiden name."

"Inoue-san, why don't you use your husband last name, you are Aizen Orihime now, aren't you?."

"Just call me Inoue, if you don't mind. I...I am not my husband,...I...have my own name and personality. And beside, I don't know why, but...*blush*...but I want you to call me Inoue. I just feel it is so right, if ...if..you could call me Inoue *blush*"

"I'm afraid it is still pretty informal, Inoue-san, I'm sure your husband would not like me to..."

"Like I say, my husband is my husband, and I am just who I am. But if you are afraid of my husband and what other think, you can call me Aizen-sama or whatever you like. But...but...when there is just you and me, can you call me Inoue?"

"Sure, Inoue"

He smiled and looked at her. This woman was way too weird.

* * *

><p>Bad news: it will be a while until I could update. Good news: I'll make the chapter long and full of info, and I will make this story into a long lenghthy novel.<p>

Please review if you like this story. Tell me what you think and what I should improve to make it better. And thank you for all of the contructive criticisms from the reviewers. I'll do my best to make this a good story, so please help me along the way.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N:** It is faster than originally planned all thank to Beta-san.

Thank you for everyone who read, alert, favor, and especially take your time review this story. This is my first Ichihime ever, so please tell me what to improve.

**Disclaimer:** Do not own Bleach

(7/24/11)

* * *

><p>Orihime could not focus the whole day at school, all she could think of was the dangerous creature who was waiting for her in the car. She never felt like this before, even when she was on the best terms with her husband, she had never had this urge before, she had never wanted to see someone so badly before. It was just several hours, but she already missed him, she felt like it had been months or even years since she last saw him. She could not understand herself anymore. All she wanted to do right now was to run to him, be on his side...forever. She unconsciously touched her necklace.<p>

"Sousuke."

That was right, she had Sousuke. Their relationship was very bad right now, and even though she told herself many times to not love him anymore, not to be with him anymore, she could never bring herself to leave him, and she knew it. Sousuke had been a part of her life, a part of her that she could never deny, could never abandon, could never leave behind. That look in his eyes- she chuckled, remembering his jealous eyes. That man. She loved him, for ten years, and even now, she still loved him. So what was this strange fluctuation that she was feeling right now? She shook her head, it was impossible for her to love anyone else, not after all those years they had been together, not after what they had been through. It must because she was feeling lonely after Sousuke left her for so long. She had to be strong, and besides, she should not involve innocents in her life- she knew what would happen to that young man if Sousuke discovered even just a bit of her attraction toward the man. She shivered, thinking of her husband made her shiver in fear. Suddenly she had a strong feeling to protect the man, no matter the cost.

* * *

><p>"Good afternoon, Kurosaki-kun"<p>

"Good afternoon, Inoue."

Inoue, that just felt so right, the way he said her name. She had that urge again, the urge to be close to him, to hear him call her name again. No, this was so dangerous; she could not risk his life this way.

"Kurosaki-kun, please quit this job."

"What? But, why? What did I do wrong? Please let me know, I really need this job."

This was bad, this woman was sure hard to read; he did not know how to deal with her anymore, but he could not fail his missions when he had not even started it yet.

"There was no reason. I just don't like you, so please, quit this job"

"Inoue-san, please listen to me. It is impossible for me to find another job. This is the only one I could do. I didn't want to tell you this, but...I...I...am gay. There is no other place that would accept me. You know how people think about people like me, right? I..."

His eyes were so sincere- he really needed this job. She was such a selfish person, only thinking about herself. She could not lie to him any further.

"Kurosaki-kun, I'm sorry. I-I was just being so selfish. I lied to you. The truth is I-I l-lik, I mean I don't hate you, I just worry for your safety."

That was interesting. Maybe he could find out something from her after all.

"Why do you have to worry about my safety? Isn't it my responsibility to ensure your safety, not the other way around?"

"You don't know my husband. He-", she sighed, "Anyway, I have never had a long term driver or body guard before, the longest that I have had was Hiaki-san who just resigned yesterday. I had him for six months. That broke the record for the past two years. My husband is ridiculously jealous. He fired anyone who seemed to get too close to me, men or women. Those women who did not get close to me, he slept with them; and those men who did not get close to me, they just disappeared. Hiaki-san was a special case- he was close to me, yet my husband did not fire him, and now he just disappeared. I am really worried about him now. I don't know what happened to him. I just hope he is ok. I...I don't want you to meet the same fate as them, I..."

Such a weird husband for a weird wife. They were indeed a couple. Speaking of that, he never noticed this before, but this woman was still very young. She must be the same age as him, at least ten years younger than her husband. Wealthy people were indeed different-if they had money, they could do whatever they wanted. Such greedy people. Having such a young and ,well, beautiful wife was not enough for a person like Aizen that he had to fool around with whoever he had eyes for. The same applied for this woman, if she did not go for money and power, she would not have married a man ten years older than she was, and as the result, would not suffer his chronic cheating and over-reacting jealousy . After all, you reap what you sow. She could not blame anyone but herself, and he would never feel sympathy for people like her, no matter how innocent she looked right now. He would not fall into her traps like others.

"Kurosaki-kun. Kurosaki-kun."

"Sorry, I am just a bit spaced out. I promise Inoue-san, I will do my best to protect you. I will never leave your side. Who knows, maybe I will be a special case, even more special than Hiaki-san. You won't know until you try, right?"

_I will do anything to protect you. I will never leave your side. So please, give me a chance...I'll protect you at any cost, even if it means I have to risk my life, because to me, your life is much more important...I'll protect you...I'll be with you...I always want to be with you, forever..._

What? What was that? What was all that about? What was happening to her, lately? Ever since she met this man, she had these strange feelings.

"Inoue, Inoue, are you alright?"

"Kurosaki-kun? What happened?"

"You just fainted. Are you ok? Let me drive you home, you might need to rest a bit."

"Don't leave my side, ever again."

"Huh?"

"I'm sorry, Kurosaki-kun. I don't even know what I was saying. Silly me"

His eyes were so beautiful, so honest, and strong, not even a trace of fear in them. She felt so safe, she just wanted to have a closer look at him, at his eyes. She put her hands behind his head and pulled him closer.

What was that about? This woman had become more and more incomprehensible. Was she going to kiss him now? Should he comply to it? Did she really have a thing for him like Urahara-san said?

Their lips were so close now. She closed her eyes, then she saw it; the image of her husband smiling at her. He had rarely smiled before; she was the only one who could see his smiles. His smile was so pure and genuine that it had made her heart stop several times. She pushed Ichigo out.

"I'm sorry, Kurosaki-kun. It's best that we keep our distance, if you want to keep the job, that is. I'm sorry for my sudden behavior. Your eyes are so beautiful that I could not keep myself from taking a closer look at them. I'm so silly. Forgive me, ok?"

"Yes, sure. Uh, does that mean that I can keep the job?"

"Of course, but promise me you will not disappear like Hiaki-san."

"He did not disappear. He just resigned, you worry too much, Inoue."

"You are right."

She laughed shyly at him, which made him laugh at her in response. They then looked at each other's eyes again and smiled.

* * *

><p>It had been three weeks, and her husband had not come home yet, he ran away again, trying to avoid her and her questions. She sighed, recently she had been sighing a lot, every time she thought of her husband. She just wanted to talk to him, figure thing out, find a way out for their marriage, and just to see him again. She missed him. If he continued to keep his distance like this, she did not know how long she could...resist...That man, Kurosaki Ichigo. She smiled- every time she was with him, she returned back to her old self, the Orihime from before meeting Aizen Sousuke; the Orihime without any worry, any guilt, any resentment, any sadness- anything for that matter. She was just being herself, carefree, childish, airheaded, clueless, impulsive, all the traits that she had suppressed and forgotten when she met Sousuke. She began to return to her weird tastes, wasabi, bean paste, honey, she put everything that she could find on her meal, and secretly enjoyed the face of Ichigo when he saw she ate all of it. She chuckled again, his face was priceless. As time passed, her initial attraction toward the man had grown stronger, she felt more attached to him, yearning every day just to see his face. She sighed, she might have begun to have some feelings toward him as well, but it was the last thing that she wanted to do.<p>

The first time she held romantic feelings toward someone she ended up into a scandalous relationship which resulted in a troublesome marriage. If this time she gave in to her own feelings, she would get herself into another scandalous relationship while she was still no where near solving the problems of the first one. And besides, putting moral and principles aside, she could not betray Sousuke, doing things to hurt him because deep in her heart, she still loved him- maybe even more than she thought. It was impossible to love two persons at the same time, wasn't it? What? She, in love with Kurosaki-kun, that was a joke... Attraction, yes. Love?...No...She did not want to fall into that trap ever again, because love hurt, a lot. Probably she should try to keep her distance; or try to mend her relationship with her husband again, just this one time- give him another chance- just this one time.

XxXxXx

"Kurosaki-kun, today I don't have classes. I just made some lunch. Could you give me a ride to my husband's company? I want to have lunch with him."

"By lunch, do you mean normal lunch?"

She giggled, "Yes, but I prefer to call them super boring lunch. This is my husband's favorite, it has been a long time since I last made him something, so I don't know if it tastes good, do you want to have a try Kurosaki-kun?"

"No, no, thank you. It's for your husband anyway. I should not..."

She was making that face, the puppy face, and pouting at him. He chuckled. That woman looked like a little dog waiting for some food. She... he blushed... looked really cute. No, no, absolutely not! He would not fall for her innocent act, and besides, a 26 year old married woman should not act that way toward a stranger- uhm maybe not a stranger (since he was not a stranger anymore, wasn't he?), but a man other than her husband. He suddenly felt a slight wave of anger when he thought of her making that face toward her husband. Maybe he didn't want her to make that face toward any men at all, and women too. God, now he sounded like her jealous husband. What was wrong with him anyway?

"Hum, just this one time ok. Hm?"

"How was this?"

Her eyes were full of hope and eager. So cute. This woman was indeed more dangerous than he had original thought. But, it could not harm much to look at her eyes a little longer, could it?

"Kurosaki-kun. Do you think my husband will like it?"

Another wave of anger shot through his body. How could he forget? She made this for her husband, and she did have a husband- looking into her eyes for so long made him forgot all of that. No, he had to come back to the main business. He should not get distracted. His main job here was to gather information, and with her husband not coming home for three weeks, this was the only opportunity to meet him. He should have thought of it sooner and told her to bring lunch to her husband everyday. Being with her for so long had confused his mind a lot, although he had to admit babysitting her was not haft as bad as he had thought I would be.

"This is good Inoue, I'm sure your husband will like it. But is this ok, to just go into his office, without a prior appointment?"

"I have never done this before so I don't know... but I do have a key to his office, so even if they don't allow us to go up there, we could sneak in and..."

Was this woman crazy? Sneaking into her own husband's office, and more important, the Aizen Sousuke's office! Was she even aware that they had surveillance cameras and securities everywhere? He was not going to go along with this nonsense.

"Inoue, it's impossible. Just call and let him know. If he is busy, maybe you could make an appointment for another time."

"But then it is not fun anymore. And besides, why do I have to make an appointment to bring lunch to my own husband? Let's go Kurosaki-kun, it'll be fun, and besides I have you with me, nothing to worry about."

"Hold on"

* * *

><p>"Sorry madam, but we cannot let you go in. Like I said, you don't have an appointment."<p>

"Look, I am his wife. Why does a wife have to make appointment to bring her husband lunch?"

"Madam, no offense, but we have never been informed that he had a wife. Lovers, yes, but wife, no; and even his lovers cannot not get in without appointments or his prior direct instructions."

Orihime felt her blood boiling fast and her pressure getting high.

"So you are saying that his lovers can meet him and I can not."

"Madam, we just follow instructions. If he had said that he had a wife and his wife was allowed to meet him at anytime, then yes you can get in, but we didn't have any sort of directions, so if you could please leave now."

"Just call him and tell him his wife is waiting for him."

"Sorry, madam, but like we said, there is no evidence that he has a wife, and his time is very precious. I could not risk my job to bother him with some fluffs."

"Fluff? You.."

"Inoue, just call him."

"I have tried but he didn't answer the phone."

"Then try again."

So Orihime tried for fifteen minutes to call her husband, but still no answer. She took Ichigo's hand and headed out.

"Let go to plan B."

"Plan B? Hey, Inoue, I have a bad feeling about this. It is just a lunch... maybe another time..."

Orihime's face suddenly grew dark,

"I know, I have a bad feeling too. But there is something I have to know for sure, I have to confirm something before I make any big decisions."

"What do you want to confirm, Inoue? What kind of decision do you want to make?"

"My feelings, and his feelings. I want to know. I want to know if love is enough, and if there is even any love left."

"I don't know what you are talking about."

"Kurosaki-kun, this is something I must do. I have a feeling that I have to do it, I have a feeling that it will not be something pleasant, but I have to do it, and then, I will know for sure what I must do."

"Inoue... You are difficult to understand sometimes. Let's just leave, ok? I don't want you to get hurt."

She took his hand and squeezed it lightly, she smiled again:

"Kurosaki-kun, if it was before I met you, I would not do it, but now that I have you, I have the feeling that nothing will go wrong- nothing can go wrong because with you beside me, I can do anything- I'm not afraid of anything."

"Inoue... You...Alright, let's go to plan B."

"Yeah. Plan B is under operation. Let's go to the bakery."

"Huh, bakery?"

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **Thank you for reading and follow this story up to this chapter. If you like this chapter, please let me know by reviewing.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N:**

Thank you everyone for your wonderful reviews *do happy dance*, I smiled a lot reading them again and again.

Thank you Beta-san for helping me with the grammar problems *face turned pale when thinking about grammar*.

For those who have a little bit interest in Aihime, visit my community "Aihime: Can the sun shine away the darkness?" . It has the newest Aihime stories as well as some of the best Aihime stories you could find on this site. For those who are not very familiar with Aihime, check out stories from Sariniste, they are awesome.

I already told you this, but this story will have irregular updates; sometime it's fast, sometime it's slow, so if you interested to follow this story, alert is always a good option.

And for those find this chapter a little confusing maybe reading its prequel "The True Face of Our Teacher" could help.

(9/3/11)

* * *

><p>Two figures quietly entered the elevator. When they were in, alone, the female giggled and spun around the male playfully.<p>

"See, Kurosaki-kun. It worked like a charm. How do I look in this uniform?"

She stroked the dress lightly and looked at Ichigo nervously, like a student who was waiting for her teacher to praise her. Ichigo tried hard not to chuckle, how could a 26 year-old woman be this childish? If he didn't know better he would think that she was a sixteen year-old high school girl, so instead of chuckling, he frowned.

"Inoue, I still don't think it is a good idea. We could seriously be caught for trespassing and..."

"We are not trespassing. The receptionist let us pass fair and square."

"Then we could be charged with misrepresentation. We are not employees of the bakery store, and no one has ordered strawberry cheesecakes."

"And I never told him so. All I did was wear this uniform, bring the cheesecakes in and tell him that many employees here loved Spaker Spaker Factory's cheesecakes. I didn't even tell him that I was an employee of "Spaker Spaker Factory Cheesecake" or that anyone here ordered cheesecake. I didn't lie to him. Alll of these are his own assumptions."

Hey, hey, this woman was indeed a master of manipulation; and he couldn't even believe that they had passed the gate that easily. The guards had no suspicion as they entered the gate again, and what surprised him most was how stupid the receptionist was to not recognize Orihime. Sure, she looked very different now compared to the first time, more young, more playful and childish. She had tied her hair to both sides, washed all of her makeup (not that she was that heavily made up, usually she didn't wear make up at all, but today she strangely wanted to be more mature to meet her husband), and what made her different most was the uniform. It strangely fit her perfectly, revealed most of her curves but at the same time still made her look so modest and innocent. Ichigo bet the receptionist was knocked out by her brightened smile and her puppy and pure eyes; moreover, Orihime insisted on giving him a cheesecake as a greeting gift and asked him to come and try new samples from the Spaker Spaker Factory. Yes, she never said that she was from the said bakery but all of her actions and words and appearance led to that conclusion.

Ichigo sighed. For the past three weeks, he had been taken in by her innocent acts and began to think of her as a friend. She was so kindhearted and nice to everyone around her that he couldn't believe she could be that manipulating. Too dangerous, this woman was way too dangerous. He had to keep his mind clear and be more careful of her if he didn't want to have the same fate as his comrades.

"Kurosaki-kun, do you hate me now?". Orihime said sadly. Kurosaki-kun didn't seem to like the way she managed to get past the security. She didn't want to do that either. She guessed she was infected by her husband's manipulation and his way of thinking after being with him for so long. Plus, she was so angry at the receptionist for saying that she was not the wife of Aizen Sousuke. She clenched her fists. Besides, she didn't know why but when she was near Kurosaki-kun, she wanted to try something fun, to be more adventurous and create good memories between them. She just played a little prank to get some revenge and to have some fun; but now, she regretted what she did because Kurosaki-kun seemed to dislike the way she tricked the receptionist. He was a very honest and straight forward person after all. Suddenly, Orihime felt so dirty and unworthy to be near Ichigo.

She turned around, and said firmly, "We should change. I want to be more presentable before meeting my husband. We could go to the restroom and meet each other again at the elevator".

* * *

><p>Ichigo tapped his fingers on the wall impatiently. This woman was too moody. One second, she acted like a little high school girl, then the next second she changed her tone and began to act coldly to him. Were all girls like that? As far as he could remember; Rukia was not like that; she was simple and straight forward; much like many of his friends. He sighed, and what took her so long? That was why he didn't want to babysit her in a first place. To seduce her own husband and keep him for herself, of course she would take hours to get make up and dress up. Her husband was very wealthy and powerful, and to make him notice her instead of his lovers, she would need to make herself as beautiful as possible.<p>

Something cold touched his cheek.

"Kurosaki-kun, have this."

Orihime smiled and handed him a coffee can.

"It's hazelnut flavor, your favorite."

"You, you took that long to find this for me?"

"Sorry Kurosaki-kun for making you wait. I think you must be very tired and the vending machine is on the second floor so..."

"Thank you, Inoue."

Ichigo smiled; she just wore her normal clothes without any makeup, but even so her beauty illuminated the whole hall, making her surroundings brighten and full of light. Ichigo shook his head and finished the drink. She was the enemy. She was the enemy. She was just acting. She was not as innocent as she looked. That was it. He should not be confused by her false kindness and artificial beauty.

Playing her fingers nervously around the handle of the bento, Orihime asked Ichigo shyly,

"Kurosaki-kun, can we go to his office now?"

She must care a lot about her husband. He sighed; no matter how much he hated it, he could not help but to feel jealous of her husband again.

"Sure. Let's go, Inoue.

Orihime's hand trembled as she turned the key and opened the door. The scene in front of her made her heart shatter into pieces. It hurt before. But now when she had to witness it, it was like a thousand knives stabbing into her heart at the same time. She collapsed. There was a strong arm wrapping around her body. Tears welled on her eyes. She wished she could be in those arms forever, be safe and protected.

XxXxXx

What the hell? He knew that the wife was weird and moody and hard to deal with, but what was up with the husband to do that kind of thing in his own office and during the day, of all times. His lover, a young pale woman, still sat on his lap, naked and moaned like it was the end of the world. Yeah, maybe it was the end of the world to the poor woman who was in his arms now. She was so light. Judging from her appearance, with all of her generous assets, he could never imagine her to be this light, and weak, and vulnerable.

Hey, one minute had passed; at least say or do something, jerk; or was he supposed to hold his wife until he finished the deed; that was if he still had the mood to finish his deed. Bastard. Maybe the said bastard didn't even realize that his wife had entered the room.

Tears covered her eyes, Orihime called out in her weak cracked voice:

"Sousuke."

The wife was so stupid, at least call out in a louder voice if she didn't want to crash right into their faces and make a big fight. No one could hear her whisper.

XxXxXx

Aizen opened his eyes; he heard someone called out his name, in a far faraway distance. But he was sure he heard it. Calling his name in such a gently voice; there was no mistake about it, it must be her. She was the only one who could call him with such a voice. She was the only one he allowed to call him by his name; the only one he wanted to hear his name from. How he had missed her, and now he began to imagine her voice. He needed to go home and meet her again otherwise he would really go crazy. However, as he slowly recovered from the pleasure flowing through his whole body, he felt something off. He could feel her presence like he always did. Why didn't he feel her presence sooner? He pushed the filthy woman away, buttoned his shirt and rush out to face his worst nightmare.

He took her away from the young man and held her tightly in his arms. She tumbled into his body, broken and lifeless; her form was so fragile that he was afraid that one small touch and she could be slashed into pieces.

"Sousuke."

Her voice; he never felt something that sad and hurtful in her voice before. He held her tighter, whispered into her ears, telling her sweet nothing, hoping that he could lessen the pain somehow. He kissed the top of her head, which only made her sobbing become heavier and more uncontrolled.

XxXxXx

Loly clenched her fist. Who the hell was that woman? How could she get into the office? Why was Aizen-sama being that gentle with her? He never ever showed such genuine gentleness with anyone, even in his greatest mood. Worse, did she just call out his name? Aizen had strictly forbidden his lovers to call him by his first name. Those who were stupid enough to disobey his order had received worse punishments than death itself. Even her, his most favorite lover now; one of the rare ones who could go into his office and whom he had kept beside him for other needs, had never had the fortune to call his name. But he seemed to not mind this woman calling his name one bit. On the contrary, there was happiness and softness in his eyes while the woman whispered his name.

"Aizen-sama, what"

Aizen sent her a warning glare, full of anger and intimidation, filling the room with his rage and ferocious waves of killing intent. Her body trembled under his power, feeling her life linger around his fingers. Just a small flick and her existence could be dissolved into nothingness. How insignificant she was under his presence, but ironically the more intimidating, the more fatal he was, the more she was drawn to him, the more she was downed in his charm, unable to get out, unable to fight for her own life.

She passed the couple, irritated on how compatible they looked together. The despicable woman, although shaking pathetically in his arms, looking weak and vulnerable, was no doubt one the most beautiful creatures she had ever met, only after her god; the only god, the only meaning of her life. Tons of beautiful women had thrown themselves into Aizen-sama's arms, but none had half the beauty of the trembling insecure woman in his arms now. It was not just her angelic face or goddess-like body but also the aura around her. If Aizen-sama gave out the cold, heartless, intimidating air that threatened to tear off anyone who dared to go against him, then the woman gave out the warm, loving, gentle air that could heal any broken heart around her presence. Even the fear and anger Loly had felt before wore off and left her stunned under a new spell, of admiration blended with jealousy. How could an angel like that woman be near the most wicked evil of all time? It was beyond her comprehension. But one thing she did know was that she did not like it one bit.

Before she closed the door, she took one last glance toward the woman. She had fainted from the overwhelming emotion; Aizen still held her tightly and called out her name in panic.

"Orihime. Orihime."

So her name was Orihime; Loly smirked. This place didn't need any light. There was no need for an angel. Her god should remain to rule over the darkness. Nearing an angel would only taint his image, diluting his godlike power. This woman should be taken care of properly. She would make sure of that. She smirked again. Her job after all, was to dispose of the unnecessary trash, to clear off the path for her god on his way to dominate this whole world, making it the place for people like him and her only. That was right, people that were from a different world could never understand her god. She was the only one who could understand him. Angel, where you came from was full of light; you should remain there, you should have never stepped out of your territory and entered into a world where you did not belong. Because, she smirked yet again, the closer you were near to the darkness, the faster you were on your way to heaven; where you truly belonged.

XxXxXx

Orihime opened her eyes; her body was still numbed under the shock. As she stirred around, she realized she was in the arms of her husband, on their bed and in their bedroom. She nuzzled her head into his chest, inhaled his scent one last time, memorizing it deep into her heart one last time. Tears fell again. She swept her tears away hastily but could not stop her sobbing.

She felt a pair of arms wrapping around her waist, whispering sweetness into her ears:

"Orihime, I'm sorry."

He turned her head around to face him, gently kissing her neck, brushing his lips on hers.

"I love you. You know that". He cupped her face and forced her to look straight into his eyes. Still those sincere looks in his eyes, looks full of love and resentment, but this time it could no longer move her heart.

She cupped his face and gently kissed his forehead,

"I love you, too, Sousuke. That is why I think it is for the best that we take a break."

Aizen's heart skipped a beat. He could not believe his ears. Orihime, his Orihime would never say something like that. She would never do that to him. She would never leave him. He could not lose her, not now, not after all that he did for her. He griped her wrists, his voice became anger and anger,

"You cannot leave me now. Not all what we have gone through. Do you know how much I love you? Do you know what have I gone through to be with you?"

He pinned her to the bed and began to kiss her forcefully.

"What are you doing, Sousuke?" Her broken voice mixed with her uncontrollable sob as she murmured, "Is this how you show me your love?"

As he loosened his grips, she grabbed his shirt and continued to weep on his chest.

"I love you too, Sousuke, that's why I cannot continue this. If I loved you any less than I do right now, I could forgive you and think as if nothing has happened. But just now, when I witnessed what you did in your office, I realized that I even loved you more than I thought I did. This pain..."

Her trembling hand gripped her shirt, "The more I love you, the more it pains my heart."

Aizen held her close to his body, gently swept her tears away with his delicate fingers. He kissed her softly on her cheek.

"I'm sorry Orihime. I promise you, I'll never see another woman again." His forehead touched hers. "You are the only one I have in my eyes, always, always, there is no one who could replace you in my heart. There is no place for another woman."

He paused before he continued.

"I meet other women because you have been cold to me." He held her hands in his, "I just try to find the old you in those women..."

He stopped as she placed her fingers on his lips; she looked at him ferociously.

"Don't try to blame me. You know why I have been cold to you. And it happened before.." She tightened her grip, "It had happened before I was cold to you..."

"Orihime, how many times do I have to tell you that I didn't do anything with Momo Hinamori. Nothing happened between us, I swear..."

"Don't swear when you don't mean it." Her voice suddenly became angrier, "Now you begin to lie to me. You never lied to me before Sousuke. You evaded my questions, yes, but you never lied to me. I guess lying has became such habit that now you begin to do it with me."

She stood up, turned on the light and looked at him again; this time her eyes were more fierce and full of anger

"What really pained me most was not your relationship with Hinamori-san but how you took advantage of her."

"Stop it." Aizen also stood up and sent her an intimidating glare, the one that had always worked beautifully against his subordinates and the lowly creatures before him, but surprisingly, it didn't work one bit against her, "Why do you always have to bring her out?". He pinned her on the wall. "Why do you always have to lecture me about morals and ethic?" He tightened his grips, making her wrists swollen by the harsh pressure. "Why don't you try to understand me more?" He pressed her body harder on the wall. "You knew who I was before we were together... Why did you accept me before although you knew full well my nature? Why can't you accept me now?" He crashed his lips on her forcefully, "Why make me insanely in love with you and then abandon me?"

"Don't talk about love with me. You are no longer in love with me."

He laughed sarcastically.

"I am not in love with you."

He laughed again and released her,

"Just because I screw up with some girls you now conclude that I don't love you. I don't want to say this but the reason I ended up with Momo is because of you. You told me to be nicer with people around me, to treat them with genuine care and goodness. So I had foolishly followed your advices, and look what happened- she ended up in my bed. You are the one who is responsible for her death the most. You are the seed of her destruction. All that I have done, all of those things you call immoral and unethical are all because of you. I became what I am today is because of you, because of my foolish love for you. Your sin is not any less than mine."

Aizen stopped, watching Orihime's response. He hated to do this; he hated to change her, but he had to do it now to keep her. He could not lose her. No matter what she would become, as long as she was his, it would be fine.

Orihime collapsed on the floor. She covered her face to keep the sobbing from getting out of control.

Aizen knelt down to her, gently removed her hands and cupped her face again.

"You are no different from me. You know that deep in your heart, there is darkness that no light could reach, if not why did you end up with me? I am the only one who could accept the real you. Take off your mask of kindness and be true to yourself."

He kissed her again, slow and gently, giving her time to digest his poisonous words. He brought her up and gently placed her on the bed. As he kissed her neck, touching her stilled body, Orihime placed her hands against his chest.

"Why do you have to make it hard for me to accept you again? How can I love you the way I did before when you treat me like your other subjects, playing with my soul? What do you want from me? Just this empty body or my love? The way you treat me now make it easier to for me to dilute my love for you completely. Do you want that Sousuke? Do you want our love to disappear like that?"

Aizen threw his body on the bed; he sighed.

"I don't know what to do any more. When it involves you, I am completely hopeless and useless. Why don't you give me a second chance? Please give me another chance to repair this. I cannot lose you. You are the only one I have in this world."

He turned his head and caressed her face.

"We have gone through a lot, and we have proved that our love is stronger than anything else. Ten years, Orihime. We have been together for ten years and now you say that you don't want to be with me anymore. Was our ten years love just worth throwing away that way?"

"Where is your ring? Why don't you tell people that you have a wife, that I am your wife?"

Aizen tremblingly brushed his lips against hers, he whispered, "Because I want to protect you."

"From what, Sousuke?"

"I told you before, I have a lot of enemies now. The less they know about my private life; the less they know about my wea..., keeping you as a secret helps to protect you from any unwanted danger."

Orihime laughed softly.

"It seems like I could only live in the shadows with you, always being your little secret. It seems like our relationship was only meant to be that way, hidden and in the dark. Sousuke, I never ask you to do anything for me. All I need is a normal life with the love of my life, simple and free of troubles. Maybe I was wrong after all. Maybe we were not meant to be right from the beginning and even now. The deeper we are in this relationship, the worse."

Aizen stood up and packed his clothes. He turned to her sadly before he left,

"I'll give you some time to think about us, but I will never give you up. I'll never let you go. I love you. I am the only one who cares for you. You should remember that well."

Her eyes were too heavy to follow his figure. All she could see was sorrow and despair. She closed her eyes. He left; he really left. Would tomorrow be a brighter day?

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **It's so embarrassing to say this, but since Beta-san has this question, maybe many will have it too:

Aizen is rich and evil and smart, so definitely he will use condom as well as other protection against any kind of disease every time he gets intimate with his women. He even gets all of the women that he is going to get intimate with a throughout health check so that there will be near zero chance for him and his wife to catch any kind of disease. *exhale* And I didn't mention the condom in the story because it would break the mood I tried to create. So, don't worry anyone, our Orihime will be in perfect health and have 100% chance to reproduce. *cry and run to a corner* Hic hic hic hic *cover my face* I can't believe I actually said that. So embarrassing.

Any confusion or question about the characters in the story will not be answered now, please continue to follow to find your own answers.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N:**

There we are with chapter 5.

Words of caution: this will be a very long story, novel length. I have the plot all played out in my head, but to detail all those ideas will take a lot of time. All I can say about this fic is that it will be a very complicated story with complicated characters.

Strongly advise those who haven't read the prequel "The True Face of Our Teacher" to do so if you want to understand Orihime's monologue near the end.

(10/1/11)

* * *

><p>"One. Two. Three... A hundred and twenty five, a hundred and twenty six... One thousand two hundred twenty seven..."<p>

"_One step. Two steps. Three steps...A hundred and twenty seven steps" . _

_A young girl with auburn hair waved her hands at a young man with a scowl constantly placed on his face. _

"_Look, Kurosaki-kun. It's a hundred and twenty seven steps." Too occupied talking with the man, she missed a step and fell...Immediately, like a flash, the man came to her side and held her tight in his arms. He scowled again:_

"_Be careful, Inoue. You are so careless."_

_The girl shyly leaned her chest on his chest._

"_I am not afraid. With you by my side, I can be as careless as I please because I know you will always protect me. _

Orihime woke up, panting heavily from the dream. Her heart had that slash of pain again, and she felt so sad and miserable for some reason. What was it again that caused her so much pain? Tears fell again. He was gone. He was gone.

A hand was gently placed on her forehead, so strong and warm.

"You have a fever, Inoue. Try to get more sleep. I'll let your school know you are sick and will not go to work today."

Orihime's throat was still sore and dry from the intense and constant crying, and her body was paralyzed from the intense pressure and overbearing emotions last night. She didn't feel like moving her body or even talking, so she just nodded slightly.

When Ichigo left the room, Orihime weakly grabbed a pillow next to her and hugged it tightly. The dream. Was it her and Kurosaki-kun? Was she imagining it or...was it real somehow? She shook her head. In the dream, she was wearing a fuchsia dress, European style, while Ichigo was wearing...Her head got hurt as she tried to remember more. She covered her head with her hands. She didn't want to remember. She didn't want to know. Somehow she wanted to get away from Ichigo, although deep in her heart she didn't want to part from him even just for a second. No. She didn't want Ichigo. She wanted her husband. She wanted him back. She wanted Sousuke back. Tears fell again.

Suddenly she heard something was put on the table softly; and then she felt a small handkerchief wiping her soaking cheek all the way up to her swollen eyes.

"Tch. You should not cry the whole day you know. It's not good for your health. You have cried all day and have not eaten anything."

"I don't want anything. Thank you, Kurosaki-kun...but...can you leave me alone...?" Orihime gathered all of her energy to whisper in her weak voice.

Suddenly, Ichigo grabbed her wrists and raised her up, getting her out of the bed and dragging her close to the window. He slid the curtain to one side, letting the sun blind her eyes. She looked up at Ichigo—under the sun, he looked so bright and beautiful. When she was little, she always waited to have a prince come and rescue her. He looked so much like the prince she used to dream about. It was just...the prince had come at a wrong time and wrong place...It was too late. Her heart belonged to another. And besides, she was not a child anymore. She had learned the hard way, even at her young age that princes did not exist. She was the only one who could rescue herself. She had to be strong. Moreover, she didn't believe in fairy tales since long ago the same way she didn't believe in love and romance now.

"What did you see in him anyway?" Ichigo scowled and forced her to look at him — "Why do you have to torture yourself this way for someone like him? Without him, will the sun not shine anymore? Will the trees and flowers stop growing? No. Life continues whether he exists or not. So why do you have to stop eating because of him? Look at you. Where is the lively Orihime, always smiling, always happy. Look at yourself. You don't look like a human anymore. Is he worth it? To make yourself like this?"

Orihime looked at him, eyes wide open. Sousuke was not worth it, to tell the truth, and she had to go forward with her life whether she had him or not. But...Tears burst out again.

"I know, Kurosaki-kun. I know it, but I cannot help it. I love him. I really love him."

Suddenly she felt his body warming her, pulling her into a deep hug.

"Inoue. Let yourself forget him and begin your life again."

XxXxXxXx

Right when Ichigo said those words, he regretted it immediately. Seeing Orihime so torn up had made him so angry and...felt a little bit helpless... He didn't want to see her like this. He wanted to see her smile again, to hear her silly talks again, not see her cry her heart out, suffering the endless pain. He didn't think carefully before saying it. But now that he came to his senses, it could ruin everything. If she divorced her husband, he would have no chance to get close to him through her. Everything would be ruined. As much as he hated it; he needed Orihime to be with Aizen in order for his mission to be a success.

But then...he held her closer and smelled her scent. He wouldn't be able to hold her like this. He would have to lie to her... He would make her cry... He would break her... He would cause her more pain than she was in right now.

The way her body trembled in his arms now, the way she looked so vulnerable and helpless now triggered something that he had rarely felt before. A desire to protect her so deep and intense that it caused an earthquake in his soul, shaking him to his core, threatening to destroy everything he had worked hard for— his pride as a policeman, his bonds to other people, and even his righteous judgments against criminals. Even when he was a child, he always wanted to protect everyone around him. But this, his desire to protect her surpassed any of his previous desires to protect. It was like his whole existence was to protect her. He was made and born for this and this purpose only.

He held her hands and looked at her.

"Let's begin everything again. I will be by your side and support you all the way. I will not let anything happen to you. I will not make you cry like this ever again."

"Thank you, Kurosaki-kun."

And she smiled at him, the same bright and lively smile she always wore around him. That was when he realized she always wore a mask, smiling and pretenting to be happy, while in fact she was sunk deep in sadness and loneliness.

He smiled back.

"Inoue, you don't have to pretend in front of me. You don't have to smile, to laugh, to tell jokes. If you want to cry, use my shoulder. If you want to let out your feelings, use my ears. If you want to release your anger and sadness, use my body as a punching bag."

Orihime let a small trail of tears escape her eyes,

"Inoue, What..."

Orihime hugged him by surprise.

"When I am with you, I only want to smile, and laugh, and tell jokes. I don't need your shoulder to cry on, I don't need your ears to ramble my troubles, and I don't need your body as my punching bag because...because your presence alone dissolves all of my sadness, anger, or pain away. I.."

Ichigo kissed her on her head to stop her. This girl...made his heart warm and happy. He wished he could bring warmth and happiness into her life too.

XxXxXxXx

Orihime smiled while still nuzzling her head into his chest. All of the unhappiness was really gone. All she could feel now was warmth and happiness. She never felt this warmth and happiness before. Like she was home, where she truly belonged.

She rubbed her wedding rings. It was not like she hadn't been happy with Sousuke. It was just that their love was too complicated. Too many things interfered—morals, principles, social values, deceit, power, money, and deaths of innocents. She shook her head. Being with Sousuke was like trying to create a light in the darkness. Being surrounded by the darkness made the light seem strong and warm enough, and it made them happy and content to be together to keep the light. Their bonds and understanding came from their understanding of the darkness and loneliness. They needed each other desperately to maintain the light.

But she was so tired now. She didn't have the strength to keep the light anymore. If Sousuke loved darkness that badly, probably it was for the best that they gave up the light they had tried so hard to create and maintain. The light now only irritated Sousuke. And Orihime would leave Sousuke, leaving the darkness behind. Her heart clenched painfully. Sousuke, alone, in the darkness. Her heart ached again. Sousuke. Tears fell again.

XxXxXxXx

The girl cried again. Hold on, since when did he think of her as a girl, and not as a woman? She was a woman, Aizen Sousuke's woman...

Screw it, he didn't care anymore, and he wouldn't let that bastard make her cry anymore.

He held her hands and led her to the bed, and gently sat her down.

He turned to the table and gave her a bowl of chicken gruel.

"Tch. Talking with you too long made it cool down a lot. Let me warm it up again."

Orihime placed her hand on his and stopped him. She shook her head and smiled.

"It's ok, Kurosaki-kun. Thank you very much."

"No problem, Inoue. And look, here is the honey, wasabi, and bean paste. You can put some in it, but just this time, ok?"

She smiled brightly at him.

"Really? I can really put them in? Thank you, Kurosaki-kun." She leaned closer and wrapped her arms around his neck.

Ichigo looked at Orihime eating in happiness; she even hummed her favorite songs to him. Thank Kami, that she was feeling better. He hoped that it was not an act to reassure him about her well being.

"That was very delicious. Thank you, Kurosaki-kun. I'll make you something next time."

Ichigo's face paled and his stomach growled at the mere thought of tasting her special food, so he decided to change the topic.

"You need to take the medicine too. Your fever hasn't dropped yet."

Now it was time for Orihime's face to get paler. She shook her head ferociously.

"No, Kurosaki-kun. I don't like medicine. It's an absolute no no." She waved her hands and turned her head away.

Ichigo scowled.

"You have to take it, otherwise you will not recover. Come on."

But she still insisted looking away. So childish. Ichigo sighed.

"Look, Inoue, look what I have for you."

Ichigo changed his voice to be like a young boy and got Orihime's attention. She turned around to face a chappy covering Ichigo's hand.

"If you do not take the medicine, Chappy will not be happy. Chappy will get angry with you and not talk with you anymore."

Orihime chuckled.

"It's so cute, Kurosaki-kun. Where did you get this?"

"From my girlfriend. Whenever she refused to take medicine, I used it, and it worked every time."

"Your girlfriend?"

Orihime looked surprised. Oops. He almost forgot.

"I mean my girlfriend before I became gay. After breaking up with her, I got this phobia to be with girls, and..."

Orihime looked at him sympathetically.

"I'm sorry, Kurosaki-kun."

She took the medicine in his hand and put all of them in her mouth.

"Sorry to be such a spoiled brat, Kurosaki-kun. And..." She placed her hand on his, "Thank you, Kurosaki-kun for being with me during this difficult time."

Ichigo placed his other hand on top of hers, "Don't worry about it, Inoue. That is what friends are for, isn't it?"

Tch, he began to get use to lying, and he hated it. He hated to lie to her like this. He hated to see her pity him. He hated when she probably just thought of him as a brother, and not even as a man. She would never find him attractive. She would never think of him as more than just a friend. Why? Why should he care? Why couldn't he concentrate on his mission? Why did he care so much what she thought of him? He felt guilt when he thought of Rukia, but he could not help it.

XxXxXxXx

The wind blew softly, but just a small wind was enough to blow the leaves away, parting them from their homes, sending them to the earth. After all, everything returned to earth, and then new life began.

Life didn't stop when Sousuke left. The wind continued to blow, new leaves continued to be born, flowers continued to bloom. Sousuke leaving didn't stop the spring from come. Sousuke leaving didn't stop new lives from being formed. Sousuke leaving didn't stop people from continuing with their lives. But Sousuke leaving put a hole in her heart. A part of her was taken away with him.

"Inoue. What are you thinking about? Hurry up, it's getting dark. Why do we have to come here in the first place? Inoue, you are working too hard recently. You should not take others' work."

"It's fine, Kurosaki-kun." Orihime smiled, raising her hand to catch a falling leaf. "It's good once in a while to go to another school, besides, Kumine-san was very busy and this document needed to be transferred immediately. Let's go to the principal's office."

XxXxXxXxXx

The sun decided to set the moment the two youths left the principal's office. As they passed the back yard to get to the parking lot, Orihime got an uneasy feeling, the past came back to her, and goose bumps began to spread through her body.

"Get off me."

An auburn-haired girl at the age of sixteen with well endowed breasts and a very nice body was trying to get away from a light-blue and spiky haired man with a scary look on his face.

"Shut up, bitch." He slapped her hard on her face, "just follow me or you will get it."

"Stop it." Ichigo ran to the couple and put his hand on the man's shoulder. "Let her go."

The man looked back, his face got even scarier.

"What?" He stirred his finger into his ear. "Who the hell are you? Do you have no idea who I am?, huh?"

He turned around and grabbed Ichigo's collar, ready to punch him right in his face. But like a flash, Ichigo quickly slipped his body out of the man's grip and came right behind him, prepared to strike. The man quickly recovered his surprise and turned back just in time to dodge Ichigo's attack.

He laughed in excitement.

"Ha ha. I see, you are also a fighter, bring it on."

Orihime's heart flicked. She didn't want Ichigo to get into the fight. She didn't want him to get injured. She ran to the sight and talked to the man.

"This is in a school's territory. Strangers are not allowed here. Please leave before you cause more trouble."

The man looked at her over his shoulder.

"What? Huh? Who the hell are you? Who do you think you are talking to? Get out of here before I get angry. This is not a place for a girl like you."

Suddenly, he turned his whole body back. He got closer and gazed at her from head to toe.

"Actually you might be better than that bitch." He grabbed her wrist, but just before he had time to drag her, Ichigo had punched him hard in his face and thrown him several feet away.

"Don't you dare touch her, you bastard."

Orihime tightened her fist. She never saw Ichigo that angry before. But, seeing him so strong like this... He was so handsome. She blushed. She felt like a little princess who was protected by her charming knight.

The scary looking man stood up and spat into the ground.

"Screw you. Try to be a hero, huh. If you want to protect your girlfriend..." Suddenly he flash stepped and grabbed the wrist of the young girl who tried to get away from the commotion.

"Stop it, bitch. I'm not done with you yet. Don't you dare to get away."

Ichigo came closer to the girl.

"Get off her. What are you trying to do? She's just a high school girl."

"That's none of your business. Take your girlfriend and get out of here before I get really angry and kill you both."

Orihime got so sacred. She came to Ichigo's side and held his hand in hers. She didn't want him to get hurt, and the man looked very serious when he said he would kill them both. She didn't want the girl to be taken away either, maybe the best action was to get away first and called the police later.

Like knowing what she was thinking, Ichigo squeezed her hand and smiled at her, reassuring her, but then he gently took his hand away from her and stepped closer to the man.

"I don't want to repeat myself. Get the hell out of here, and leave that girl alone, or I will not be nice and gentle with you anymore. I will smash you into pieces."

The man grinned,

"Yeah. Let's go. Bring it on."

He got into an offensive stand and ready to take Ichigo at any moment.

Orihime looked down. She was so selfish, just thinking about herself while Kurosaki-kun was so righteous. He was not afraid of anything. He would protect everyone around him at all costs. And what was she? A weak spoiled girl who couldn't even get over her marital problem, who didn't even have the heart to protect an innocent girl. She was so selfish. She would protect him this time. She would not let anything happen to him. She had never felt such a desire to protect someone that badly before. Sousuke was the only one she had in this world, but he didn't need protection. On the contrary, it was other people that needed to be protected from him.

She ran in front of Ichigo and the girl and spread her arms over them, facing the strange man.

"I will not let you touch them."

"Inoue, get away. You are not his opponent. Let me take care of him"

"I am a teacher, it is my responsibility to protect the students." She looked straight into the man's eyes, "Get out of here. This place does not belong to you."

The man chuckled.

"You guys don't know who I am, do you? I would never imagine I'd be challenged one day by a weak little woman. Listen carefully, weaklings. I'm from Hueco Mundo. Get out of my sight now if you still want to keep your lives."

XxXxXxXx

'Hueco Mundo'. This was bad, Inoue and the girl needed to get out of here before it was too late. Ichigo sweated. He had never thought to encounter a member of Hueco Mundo here. Hueco Mundo was the nick name for the underground of Karakura Town. No, to be more precise, the underground of North Japan. It was the gathering ground of the biggest criminal groups of Japan. And from the look of it, he must have a very high rank from one of the biggest criminal groups of it.

"Hueco Mundo." Ichigo tried to remain calm. "I see, so that why you are so arrogant. I'm ready to take on any of its members. Bring it on."

The man laughed.

"You still have no idea how strong I am, do you? You are the one who is arrogant and ignorant. I'm not the trash you could encounter from Hueco Mundo. Have you ever heard of Las Noches?"

Ichigo frowned.

"Las Noches is a new group that is growing at an astonishing pace. So you are from that group."

"You are too outdated, kid. Las Noches is now the leader of Hueco Mundo. The whole Hueco Mundo is now under the control of my boss, the Aizen Sousuke. Looks like you haven't heard of him yet. I'm his sixth Espada, which means the sixth strongest fighter of Hueco Mundo."

Aizen was now the leader of Hueco Mundo, this was bad. But before he could think any further, Orihime had collapsed on the ground, her body shaking uncontrollably. Ichigo immediately rushed to her side and tried to raise her up.

Orihime grabbed his arm and asked him desperately.

"Is this true, Kurosaki-kun? Is what he just said true? Isn't Hueco Mundo the underground of Karakura, the root of all criminal organizations of this city? And he is the leader of it?"

Tears welled in her eyes and then poured like rain on her beautiful cheeks.

"It must not be true. He must not be. He must not be."

Ichigo held her closer to his body, "It's just a rumor. We should not believe this man. He is not trustworthy."

But the man, because of the distance, seemed to misunderstand the situation and thought that they were scared of him.

"So that helps to open your eyes a little. You know now how strong I am, don't you? Look at your woman, kid. She is so scared, getting that frightened just hearing my boss' name. If you know how strong we are now, just get the hell out of here. Our boss wants that girl, so if you continue to stop me from doing my job, I really cannot guarantee your lives. Our boss is a monster when he gets angry. Well he is already a monster at normal circumstances, but when he gets angry..."

Orihime opened her eyes widely, she looked at him in terror, she interrupted the man.

"What does he need this girl for?"

The man laughed.

"You are really innocent like you look, huh? To screw with her, of course, what else? Our boss is a big jerk, and recently he has this weird taste. He's only interested in young and beautiful girls, but then who wouldn't? However, he had this weird list of criteria. Let's see..." He pulled out a piece of paper and opened it, "he wants us to hunt down high school girls, of the age of sixteen, must have a natural hair color of auburn, pale peach skin, big and gray eyes preferred but not required, nice body with well endowed busts. It was hard to find one with such criteria. You don't meet pretty and young girls of such quality nowadays. This job is really hard, I am the sixth Espada, after all, but he also asked other Espada to do this job, so no complaints. Luckily, I encountered this girl. There is no way I'm going to let her get away. Shit..."

The man looked around and realized the young girl had fled away while he was so absorbed in the conversation. He immediately tried to run after her, but Ichigo stopped him once again.

"Leave that girl alone."

The man scratched his head in frustration,

"Arg, it is all because of you two, sticking your nose where it is not supposed to be. I am Jaegerjaquez Grimmjow What's your name?"

"Kurosaki Ichigo."

"Kurosaki Ichigo, huh. I'll teach you a lesson later."

XxXxXxXx

Before he turned and left, he looked at Orihime one last time and asked her.

"Woman, what's your name?"

"Inoue Orihime." Orihime answered in her trembling and cracking voice. No, she would not affiliate herself with that despicable creature any longer. She would not be his wife any longer. She had enough.

After the man left, Ichigo helped her to get in the car and drove her home.

She laughed deep in her throat sarcastically. She had always thought of her first time with Sousuke as utterly romantic. She had lied to herself. She closed her eyes. Now when she remembered it, goose bumps still spread through her body, and chills ran through her spine. He had attempted to rape her, hadn't he? She still remembered how frightened she was in that class room, trembling before his power and merciless heart.

But...but there was a magical moment when she suddenly felt pity for him, wanted to condone him, wanted to comfort him, to wash away all of his hate and pain away, wanted to make him happy because his eyes looked so much like her when she...And there was a magical moment when he could understand it; he accepted to be condoned by her, to be comforted by her, to be pitied by her and he decided to reciprocate the feeling. So instead of raping her, he showed her love and care, genuine care, showed her how much he longed for attention, for love; and she gave him that. So they fell in love.

Tears fell yet again. Never had she thought that mere physical contact could communicate feelings that much; that they could understand each other that perfectly just through physical contact. And from that moment on, they were inseparable, and they understood each other deep into their souls. They were soul mates. They had accepted each other completely, everything, dark and light sides.

They had accepted each other... Yes, she had accepted him. She had, but not now, not anymore. She had thought that time could change people, she had hoped that her love would change him, so she had loved him unconditionally and blindly, taking him for all he was. She even once found his dark side somewhat... amusing, exciting, andbeautifully sad... She was playing with fire, and part of her felt joy and got excited from it. She was fond of the idea of turning something dark and dangerous into something beautiful and full of light. She had hoped to add light and happiness into his life, but...

Tears fell faster and faster as her sobs grew more uncontrollable. It was because of her childish thoughts that many people had to suffer, many people had to die. She had not realized it until the day he left. She was not adding light and happiness into his life, she had not changed him, she only added fuel to the fire, making him more dangerous, more fatal, more deadly, more dark. If everything he had done up until now was because of her, then indeed her sins were not any less than his, and she had no right to blame him for people he killed because she was part of the reasons they had died, too.

Like that girl just right now... She covered her arms around her chest to lessen the intense sob... If it was not because of her, that girl would not have almost been kidnapped. That girl was lucky that she could get away, but what would happen to her if Aizen caught her? Orihime shivered in fear again, remembering the day Aizen took her.

She was so tired now. She didn't want to think anymore. She just wanted to sleep, to wash all of her memories away, good or bad... But then she would forget about Sousuke... Her heart wrenched... She would forget about him...that...she did not want...

XxXxXxXx

"Inoue Orihime_, _huh." Grimmjow tapped his fingertip on the table, still unable to forget what just happened, forget about the girl. If Aizen saw her, what would happen to her? She was the one that fit all of the criteria, and one of the most beautiful girls he had ever met. Even Aizen's lovers were nothing compared to her.

Her eyes were so beautiful. The way she looked at him, so strong yet gently, and the way she smiled at that bastard was so beautiful. Her smile alone brightened the dark night. Lucky bastard, having such a beautiful girlfriend.

He leaned back on the chair, throwing his legs on the table. He hoped Aizen would never discover her. He didn't want anything to happen to her. That girl... Something in that girl triggered something he had never felt before... the desire to protect. He was a fighter; not a protector. Fighting was the only meaning in his life. But he could not help it. He would not let anything happen to her. Never.

XxXxXxX

It was a tiring day. Ichigo looked at the sleeping Orihime. He gently stroked her hair. She must be exhausted too. He smiled. Looking at her sleeping peacefully like this made him happy.

Something was thrown into the room through the half opened window. He frowned. He should have closed the window. He came closer and looked at a small stone wrapped by paper. He opened the paper.

"First meeting. Kisuke's Sweety Sweety Store. Be on time."

He sighed, it seemed like the peaceful time had passed. Sooner or later he had to choose, and it would not be a pleasant choice.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** I don't like to nag about review, but since this story will be long and take a lot of time and energy, I do want to know if there are still people like this story and want to follow it, if the story is still interesting and worth the efforts of months writing in the future. I probably still continue this story regardless but knowing (or perceiving) that no one likes it any more or that it has some problems attracting people will demotivate me greatly, making the process of updating more slowly and could even create enough stress to stop me from writing :(.

So please give me some feedback if you have time because I want to know how the story is doing. I love all kind of comments, constructive criticisms are welcome. And anonymous review is enable, so you don't need to have an account to review.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N:**

I want to say my thanks for all the supports you guys gave me last chapter by reviewing. I'm so happy that I read them again again in absolute bliss.

Thank you, killerqueen04 ,nypsy, rootali ,Emmy The Ice princess , FreeSoul1990 , Sariniste , ranipaki , luversblues , Pisces00 , Child of the Ashes , happy-sagara , mangaaddict300 , and anonymous reviewers: Cutsodeep, the0blind0writer, lala, ichihime shaz, Livia, Yuukiren, TheSnowLady, Pringles3, ME, and others that don't have names, for your supports, reading and reviewing this story from the beginning till now. I love to hear your feedback :).

Also thank you everyone who read, fav, and alert this story.

Yes, updates might be as slow as it seems, but they will come sooner or later, just want you guys know that I love this story by heart and have paid a lot of attention to it than any of my other stories.

(11/22/11)

* * *

><p>Orihime leaned her back against the car's back seat, then slowly fingered the frame of the window down to the material of her seat. It was transparent but sturdily and firmly made plastic glass and the black leather seat was made from the finest material too. This car might not look like it, but it must be truly expensive, and she had the funny feeling that it was not a normal car. With that kind of material...She wanted to laugh. She was imagining things again, there was no way this car was equipped with a gun machine or something like that, wasn't it? She should get rid of her overactive imagination soon; it was all because of those overly imaginative and idealistic philosophies that she ended up like this, dragging many innocents down with her.<p>

Orihime tightened her grip on her bag. She had decided, she had to be strong. She would live alone again. She would return to the Orihime of ten years ago again, returned to the absolute loneliness. Tears fell again. Damn it, why didn't it stop? Why couldn't she be stronger?

"Inoue. Are you alright?". Orihime looked at Ichigo's face through the rear-mirror. He scowled again. She smiled; she did not know why but she was strangely attracted by his scowl. She didn't know what kind of spell he put behind that scowl, but she could not stop being drawn into it. She wondered what she should do to make him smile more and be happy. It must not be. She should not think about him like that. She clenched her fists- when she left that man, she would leave Kurosaki-kun too and begin everything again.

Orihime wiped her tears away and smiled, "I'm alright, Kurosaki-kun. How long till we reach to the lawyer's office?"

o-o-o-x-o-o-o

Ichigo frowned, "About fifteen more minutes. Inoue...I do not mean to interfere with your personal matter, but...do you want to divorce him?"

Ichigo scowled as he saw the forced smile she tried to put on her face as she nodded. Didn't he tell her to not smile like that in front of him, that he only wanted to see her smile brightly and genuinely only?

"Kurosaki-kun, you told me to begin everything again...I will leave the past and start my life anew."

Ichigo gripped the steering wheels tight and firmly, trying to remember his resolve. He had to do it now or everything would be ruined. His mind drifted back to the conversation with Urahara last night.

_Flash back:_

_Urahara slowly put his tea cup near his mouth and took a sip before looked at Ichigo through his hat,_

"_So how is your mission going? Did you establish a good relationship with her?"_

_Ichigo's palms dampened his knees as sweat poured out like rain in the cold night,_

"_We have become very good friends. She is a very friendly person."_

"_And nice..." Urahara suddenly added, he had averted his eyes back to the cup and took another sip, "and very kind with everyone around her, the most kind-hearted person you have ever met, not mentioning she is astonishingly beautiful and very attractive. You feel at ease with her by your side and even...," he placed the cup on the table and let Ichigo see his smirk, "and even feel happy every time she smiles. You're sad when she is sad, and you want to protect her. Am I right?"_

_Ichigo could feel his face become hotter and his body heat increased rapidly despite the cold winds that breezed though the opened room. _

"_Do you know why I know?" Urahara leaned upward to put a mochi in his mouth. "It's because it's the same answers and reactions I get from every single spy I place on her. Do not worry, though, Ichigo. You have not fallen in love with her yet. You are just attracted by her charm and being deceived by her well-made mask. However," Urahara stopped, lifting his hat up lightly, "during these two months with her, surely more or less you could sense her manipulation, am I right?"_

_Ichigo kept his silence, pressing his fists harder on his lap, remembering the time when Orihime tricked the receptionist at Aizen's headquarter. Recently he was so absorbed in life with her that he forgot everything- the mission, Rukia, the truth behind Orihime's mask; he knew of her and her only and forgot about everything else._

_Urahara let a small smile sweep his face before he continued, "According to my information, Aizen has just become the lord of Hueco Mundo after successfully defeating Barragan and his gang. He and his organization, Las Noches, now govern the whole Hueco Mundo, opening a whole new era to this huge underground world." _

_Urahara took another sip before putting the empty cup down and sighed, "Unfortunately, we, the police do not find this change of leadership favorable one bit. Despite his calm and well-mannered profile, Aizen is even more ruthless and heartless than Barragan."_

_Urahara fingered the cup's handle mindlessly, "Barragan, despite being an S-rank criminal who is famous for his violent and unscrupulous tendencies, he still has a certain...respect for the law, or I should say the order of the world. He knows full well the border of good and evil, of black and white and kept himself within his line. However, _Aizen is not the same."

"_You mean he wants to cross the line?" Ichigo asked when he saw Urahara suddenly paused and stopped talking._

_The older man used his fan to cover his face, "No,I mean he doesn't give a damn about crossing the line or not. He wants to be the one who draws the line. He likes neither black or white but wants to dye the world in his own color."_

_Satisfied with the horrorified look on Ichigo's face, the police chief continued. "Recently, he has been very angry for some reasons. Do you know why, Ichigo?" He carefully poured more tea in his and Ichigo's empty cups while still observing Ichigo intensively. The guilt was still evident on his face but he refused to cooperate and kept his silence, so Urahara decided to carry on his story, "So, because of this unknown anger, he has vented out his frustrations on anyone that is in his way. First is Barragan, he swept the old man out of his throne in three days. Then, he began to stir the conflict between the polices and the gangs that are opposed to him and arranged quite some bloody scenes. For the past two weeks, there have been fifty street fights between the police and the gangs and between the gangs themselves. Aizen and Las Noches are believed to be behind all of these but they never participate in any of the fights. In fact, Aizen hasn't moved one single finger but can still somehow control both the gang and the police. He might provoke them and pull one or two strings along the way. As a result, beside the countless casualties of those directly involved, there are many innocents that are injured too."_

_Seeing Ichigo's face paler and paler as he finished his sentence, Uharaha looked directly into Ichigo's eyes. "Kurosaki-san, does this remind you of something? Why do you want to become a policeman? Do you still hold your resolve or not?"_

_Ichigo found it was hard to continue breathing, flashbacks of the incident came back to his mind and made his vision blur. How could he know about his past? He grabbed the edge of the table to keep himself balanced. "You seem to investigate me well. Just tell me what you want already."_

"_Telling you and you being able do it are totally two different things. I''m not gonna waste my efforts on a half-hearted agent. Just tell me right now if you want to continue this mission and will do anything to complete it, or I'll find another agent who is more suited to do the job properly."_

"_I'll do it. Whatever you want."_

_Uharaha smirked, "Really?"_

-o-0-o ichixhime o-0-o-

Ichigo tightened his grip on the wheel, his voice was trembling as he managed to open his mouth, "Inoue, I have something I want to talk to you about."

But before he could finish his sentence, the car was stopped by huge crashes from all four sides. It was totally trapped by four other black cars and the street was strangely quiet and empty during this hour of the night.

A cold voice rang through their ears, "Get out of the car or I'll shoot you."

Ichigo looked outside and a chill ran down his spine. There were at least ten men pointing their guns at Orihime and him. Immediately he pressed the emergency button right under the wheel. It was instructed in the guidelines Aizen gave him to ask for help when the situation called for. Even so, it could take at least fifteen minutes for Aizen's men to get here. This car was special, but it was trapped now, on all four sides, and if they didn't get out of the car soon enough, surely they would be shot into pieces. Ichigo tried to balance his breathing. Think. Think. He looked at Orihime over the rear-mirror. Her face was pale, but she still managed to be calm and composed. He had to protect her. He would not let anything happen to her. The best course of action should be to get out of the car and try to buy time until the rescue team came. Hopefully the enemy didn't know about the emergency button and therefore he could somehow stall them here for the whole fifteen minutes.

Orihime opened the door and looked at him. She also seemed to think that they needed to get out of the car now and devise a plan depending on the situation. His heart flinched as she smiled at him. This girl... She was so brave. How could she smile in a situation like this, having ten men pointing their guns at her? A dark whisper rang through his ears. It was because she was used to it, not because she was brave. She was the wife of a very dangerous gang leader and no doubt could be a cunning criminal herself under the mask of an innocent, kind-hearted school teacher, just like her husband who was hiding under the mask of a successful philanthropic businessman. But why? Why did he feel so sad, like there was a slash of pain just crossed through his stomach, sharp and mercilessly tearing it into half?

Ichigo shook his head out of any unnecessary thought. It was critical now that he kept his head cool and thought fast. Yes, he needed to protect her to further his plan, not because of any personal feelings toward her. She was an important piece in this game of chess, and that was all there was to it.

XxXxXxXx

Orihime stepped out of the car, inhaling the last fresh air of the early night. The dark street was covered with an intense suffocated silence, like every single creature on the street tonight was holding their breath, focusing every last bit of their concentration on her and Ichigo as they got out of the car. Even the wind was too afraid to move, to stir the air, to bring out any liveliness into the hot surface of the late spring night. A storm of footsteps echoed louder and louder, ripping the quietness away and bringing another wave of oppressive intensity. Orihime turned her eyes to the direction of the ominous sound only to see a small army of black-suited men headed straight to where she was. Together with the ten men surrounding her and Ichigo, there must be at least fifty men in total.

The men began to move aside as someone Orihime assumed was the leader moved closer to her. He was an elderly man with a white mustache and white hair. With his heavy body build and large scars on the left side of his chin and across his right eye, Orihime knew right away he was a very strong and rough fighter, one that had experienced the toughest battles possible. His icy stone eyes swept over her with absolute mercilessness and ordered his subordinate causally, so causally that she though he was asking them to give him a piece of cake: "Break her limbs off."

Ichigo immediately stepped in front of her, in his offensive stance, ready to take on anyone that dared to get close to her. His eyes were drowned in such determination that she had rarely seen before. Like a flash, he took out the two men coming at him with a single hit, so fast that Orihime couldn't comprehend what was going on. Five other men attacked him from both sides but he charged right into them without any fear or hesitation in his eyes. He was like a lion surrounded by fierce wolves. More and more men charged at him now, but he bravely threw them off with pure mental strength. His eyes were now on fire and his movement became swifter and smoother, knocking out the men one by one. Her heart pounded heavily against her chest. He looked so happy fighting that it hurt her heart greatly. He was punched several times in his face and other body parts, but his eyes had never shone brighter, full of life and energy. She didn't know how long she could stand seeing him hurt because of her, but he looked so fulfilled that she could not bring herself to stop him.

Suddenly she felt someone grab her arms and lock his arm around her neck, tying her wrists behind her back, then there was a sound of gun shots and Ichigo collapsed on the ground. Blood was slowly pouring out from his chest. Orihime felt like her soul was sucked out of her body, and pain continued to flood into her, one wave after another; she felt so dizzy and desperate. She just wanted to scream her heart out and run to his side, but any efforts to get away was in vain. She was helpless, completely helpless in this situation, and she hated it. She hated when she was always a burden, always weak and useless, unable to do a thing to protect herself and those that were important to her. Then his words came back to her.

X-o-X-Ai...hime-X-o-X

_Flash back:_

"_You know, a weak creature also has its advantage." Aizen nuzzled his head in her hair and hugged her from behind. Orihime giggled at the sudden contact and put her book down, she jerked her head to the side to meet his hungry gaze, "Oh, if so can you tell me what it is?"_

_He turned her around and brushed his lips on hers before caressing her cheek with his knuckles, "Desperation."_

_She laughed playfully, "Desperation? And how can it help?"_

_Aizen laid back on the sofa and looked at her with amused eyes, "And why do I have to tell you, my dear? What can I get in return?"_

_Orihime picked up the book again, she had learned it the hard way that she should never let him set the rhythm or she would be played pitilessly in his palm, so she pretended to be uninterested and opened the book again, answering him indifferently, "If you insist on not telling me, I'll just have to find it on my own."_

_Aizen took her book away from her and put it back down impatiently, "Why do you need to read that book when you have such an intelligent boyfriend like myself right next to you? Besides," he tilted her head back for her eyes to meet his, "there are things that book cannot teach you. A book doesn't have everything that can come in handy when we need it most." _

_Orihime pouted, "Then just tell me already, you know that I really want to know." _

_Aizen chuckled, "If you were more obedient, I could have told you right away." Seeing Orihime was about to turn her head away, he added, "Desperation can become a very dangerous weapon. When weak creatures, or should I say any creatures for that matter, being cornered, they would be able to release their full potential, one that has the power to turn around their situation. The advantage that weak creature has is that the enemy will underestimate them and, therefore, be unaware of this potential, so when it hits them, they will be knocked out by full force."_

_Orihime leaned her back against the sofa and sighed, "But I don't know if I have any potential to unleash when I need it." _

_Aizen smiled, "Of course, you do. You have great potential, Orihime. You're very beautiful." _

_Orihime angrily threw a pillow at him, "Don't you dare tease me."_

_Aizen laughed and held her wrists, stopping her from attacking him any further, "No. I'm serious, Orihime. Appearance is another dangerous weapon, but it's only useful if people know how to use it well. And you, Orihime, are gifted with both beauty and intelligence. You have the face of an angel, one that could draw people in with its pureness. They could believe in everything you say. Subconsciously, they would not doubt in whatever comes out of your mouth, and more importantly, you look so fatigued and weak that they will go with the flow you set even if they suspect you because they believe you will not have the power to do anything significant."_

_Orihime frowned, "And I should take it as a compliment?"_

_Aizen chuckled again, "Yes, my dear, and this is when your wit can come in handy. Remember, every human has their weaknesses, no matter how strong they look. Actually, in some cases, the tougher the appearance the weaker the person inside and vice versa. Your job is to pinpoint those weaknesses and discover their objectives. To deal with them more effectively, you have to analyze the situation at hand with a cool head, make assumptions and skillfully test them out. When you gather all the information you need and are able to get a whole picture, it could be much easier to lie and lead them slowly into your trap."_

_Orihime opened her eyes wide in disbelief, "I can't believe it. You are teaching me how to lie."_

_Aizen returned her gaze with a playful one, stating, "Why not? Lying is an art, a very difficult one to learn. Only a few have the gift to do it perfectly and precisely, and you are one of them. I just do not want to waste such talent when I have it in my hands.'_

_Orihime began to bombard her boyfriend with a storm of pillows flying with their full force at Aizen who dodged all of them easily while finding a chance to grab her wrist and put an unexpected kiss on her lips, "You are even more attractive when you are angry, my dear."_

XxX++++++++++Ichixhime+++++++XxX

Orihime took a deep breath and began to analyze the situation again. She had to think hard and fast to find a way get out of this. She hated to do this, but she had to lie and manipulate them somehow in order to save herself and Ichigo.

First, she had to know who they were and their objectives. Very likely they were Sousuke's enemy. With the look of them, they were very experienced and dangerous fighters, so fighting them was not an option. However, for people with such strength and power to go against a weak girl like her meant that they wanted to use her against her husband, but to take such a cowardly method meant that they were afraid of him and didn't dare to go against him directly. She could use this. Sousuke said that fear was the greatest weapon one could use to control their enemy.

Secondly, she had to assess her resources and find a way to use them effectively. She had Aizen. He was a very intelligent man. He must have foreseen that something like this would happen, so he would have prepared something for her at least. Ichigo was one of them, but he alone was not adequate. Aizen might have other agents around to protect her. Hold on. Now that she thought back, Ichigo had pressed some button the moment the men came, which mean help would come sooner or later. Knowing Aizen, he could arrange it so that help would come in less than twenty minutes; which meant her job here was to stall as much time as possible and survive for another ten minutes or little bit more. And...she had the car...She was not sure if her intuition was right, but she had the feeling that she could use it too.

A cold voice ripped through the air, bringing her back to reality, "Kill him."

"Hold on." She hastily interupted. She hadn't thought of any plan yet, but first she needed to stall some time and find more information on them.

The man who was holding her snapped, "Shut up woman. You are in no position to talk. You will follow in his footsteps soon."

Orihime breathed heavily, "Please. There must be a misunderstanding. I don't know any of you, and I'm sure you don't know me either. There is no reason to kill me and my friend."

The elderly man who she assumed was the leader was now sitting on a chair covered by wolf fur, two men in back suits standing on either side of him. The man himself wore a black fur coat; he looked at her idly, "Don't play dumb, woman. We know that you are Aizen Sousuke's wife. Your husband was a disgusting bastard." He pounded his fists on the chair handles, "How dare he trick me and steal the seat from me!"

So they were indeed Sousuke's enemy. What was their fear of him? They seemed to be very tough and well trained, so it was unlikely that they would lose to him in terms of power. He said that Sousuke tricked him, didn't he? She got it, they must be dead scared that Sousuke would manipulate them again and therefore were afraid to take any actions directly at him.

"It must be a misunderstanding. Aizen Sousuke is not my husband." Thank God, she had taken the ring off long ago since he left. Served him right. Technically, she was about to divorce him, and she didn't accept him as her husband anymore. She was angry again when she thought about him, and it was not good. She had to be calm and think again. According to Aizen, there must be a very few people who knew that they were married, so there must be someone near him that spilled out the information. She could use this too.

The two body guards looked at their leader in worry. That was good, they began to fear and question the accuracy of the information. However, the man gave her an icy gaze, "It doesn't matter that you are his wife or not. Break her limbs and bring her back to the headquarters now." He began to rise from his seat while the man who held her was so ready to break her arms off.

Sweat dampened her body with fear, and she decided to take a bold action. There was nothing to lose anymore.

"Hold on. If you do anything rash now, you might fall into Aizen's trap. You got that information from someone inside his organization, didn't you?"

The man holding her tightened his grip, "Bitch, I thought you said you had no relationship with him and now you act like you know him. I'll break your limbs now before cutting that snake-like tongue of yours."

Orihime tried to balance her breathing and talked, "I didn't say that I didn't know him. I only said that he was not my husband. I was only one of his lovers. We had a big fight recently and I think that he just used you to dispose of me." That should save her for the next two minutes.

The leader turned back toward her, he harshly gripped her chin and tilted her head up. "Listen, you trash. Baraggan Louisenbairn is not the man who people could use so easily. I am the one who uses them, not the opposite."

His last name was not Japanese, and the name was reversed. He must be a foreigner that was born here or lived here since he was little. He seemed to be a very prideful person.

_The art of lying was that you have to believe in what you say or otherwise no one would believe you. You have to put yourself in the shoes of the person you want to act out._

_Momo, sorry, but I had to use you. I'm very sorry. _Orihime could feel her tears waiting to burst out at the thought of Momo, but she held it in and began to start the act.

Her body was shaking with anger as she continued, "That bastard Aizen. I cannot forgive him. I admired him as long as I could remember. I always idolized him, always followed him. I gave up everything for him, my scholarship to America, my family, my friends, my future."

She became more and more angry the more she thought of how Aizen had used Momo. She forcefully shook out of the grip with pure rage, but the man hadn't taken any action. Everyone seemed to listen to her story with intense concentration. "I worked for him days and nights, always by his side, encouraging him and scarificing everything for him. I didn't mind covering up his dirty works for him, I did not mind him having other women beside me. As long as he looked at me a little longer, as long as he smiled to me once more, as long as he agreed to stay by my side, I would do anything for him. "

Tears began to roll down her cheeks faster and faster, and her sobbing became more uncontrollable. That bastard, to abandon Momo like that after what she had done for him. Her legs weakened and she collapsed on the ground, burying her head in her arms. "Why? Why did he abandon me? Am I not good enough for him anymore? Why did he send assassins to kill me?"

As she tried to slow down her breath, she noticed the men began to look at her with pity in their eyes. They seemed to believe in what she said. Good. However, their leader looked absolutely unaffected by her story, and there was not a single trace of sympathy in his eyes. She would have to think of another way to get his attention.

She didn't even dare to look at the watch so as not to raise any suspicion, but she estimated at least five minutes had passed. Five more minutes to go. _Ichigo,_ _can you hang on a little longer?_

* * *

><p><strong>AN:**

*Look at the audiences nervously*, So...how was it. I might go overboard...but I was so excited after reading your lovely reviews that I wrote nonstop for 1 week, this chapter and the next chapter, and in my excitement, I might make it a little bit too much.

Anyway, I don't want to do a cliffhanger, but I have no choices, this scene is two chapter long.

And yes, if you have a chance, please leave me a review, telling me if I'm doing fine or if this story is still interesting to follow. The problem of writing novel length story that update monthly or more is that it makes me wonder all the time if the story is still attracting readers...So please let me know if you like it, if not, please tell me why by leaving constructive criticism. Anonymous review enable.


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N:**

Hello, long time no see. Here is the next chapter.

Happy 2012.

(1/5/11)

* * *

><p>As she tried to slow down her breath, he noticed the men began to look at her with pity in their eyes. They seemed to believe in what she said. Good. However, their leader looked absolutely unaffected by her story, and there was not a single trace of sympathy in his eyes. She would have to think of another way to get his attention before he ordered his men to bring her back to his hideout. This time she would hit upon what he feared the most.<p>

She used her sleeves to wipe her tears away, "Aizen is a despicable man, he has betrayed me so many times, but I haven't found a way to get revenge on him because...", she sobbed, " Because I was scared, I was so scared of him. I have seen many times his ways of taking out his enemies. He never uses direct methods. He enjoys making them suffer, and uses elaborate scheme to bring them down. What he really likes to do is to use his enemies against one another so that he doesn't have to move a finger and can still have all of his enemies wiped out for him."

Although her husband disgusted her, she could not help but to appreciate how his wicked nature helped her in this situation. The faces of the men in black got paler, and although the leader's face was still static as he didn't let any emotion out, Orihime could sense the tense aura surrounding his presence.

One of his body guards told him in horror, "The one who gave us the information is one of his women. Barragan-sama, could it be that he has used us all along to eliminate this woman...", but he immediately stopped as his leader gave him an intimidating glare.

Barragan raised his hand up and ordered his subordinates, "Just bring her back to the headquarters for now. We'll invest this later. I don't want to get in any trouble, we'll leave now."

The words of the body guard had hit her. Now that she thought about it, Aizen must hate her a lot for rejecting him, he must want her to suffer, even to get killed, so there was a low possibility that this indeed was a scene he set up to get rid of her. If so, the best course of action now was to cooperate with these men and ask them to save Ichigo because help might never come. But...tears went back to her heart. She didn't feel any doubt now, she couldn't bring herself to distrust him. Somewhere deep in her heart she wanted to believe that he still loved her, that he would protect her, that he would never let anything happen to her, that he would appear at the end of the day to hold her in his arms and tell that her everything was over. She wanted to trust in their love one last time so desperately that she ignored the consequences and headed straight into the fire.

_Kurosaki-kun, please forgive me. If anything happens to you, I'll go to hell and pay you back later, but now I want to put my faith in him one last time and believe in him one last time. I used to swear that if nobody believed in him, if he had no one to trust, I''d be the last one standing on earth that held my faith in him. I cannot betray him, I'm sorry, Kurosaki-kun._

She stood up and said firmly, "I'll go with you. I believe you will protect me, so let me help you. I have some evidence against him that can be very useful to you. I put them in a locker in a secret place, but the key to that locker was in my bag in the car now. Please let me get it."

The old man looked at her questionably for about ten seconds, but seeing her determined eyes, he nodded.

It hurt. Lying was hurtful although she didn't totally lie to him. However, to gain one's trust only to crush it later was something she could not do. Her body trembled in resentment. She stepped toward the car. This was a big gamble. It might not work. Aizen might not come. Ichigo might die because of her. She might lie for nothing. She might hurt them for nothing. She might die too. No, it was not good, too many risks. Just give up on Aizen and move forward. But... that she could not do. Betraying him was the last thing on earth she wanted to do. She smiled as she touched the handle. _Sousuke, I'm willing to die for you. I will put my faith in our love again. Could our love survive this one challenge the same way it survived countless obstacles before, Sousuke? Sousuke, it's fine to believe in love again, isn't it?_

:

_:_

_:_

"_Sousuke, I want a car with a big gun inside." _

"_You mean a real gun?"_

"_No, of course not. Just a gun that shoots flowers and fireworks."_

"_You're so naive. At least make it more usable. How does tear gas and sleeping gas sound?"_

"_You are not fun."_

_._

"_Ok, I'll install flower and firework gun on the front doors, and tear gas and sleeping gas on the rear door. Compromise?'_

"_It's not like we have money to buy a normal car now. But I'm happy to take the bus and walk home with you everyday.'_

"_Orihime, someday, I'll give you everything you want. Just name it and I'll bring the whole world down just for you._

She looked at the rear door carefully, there was indeed a very small button near the handle, with a lily symbol wrapping around a flake of snow. She pushed her finger nail on it, and the car shook slightly before a dozen small guns head raised up on the surface and the whole area was surrounded by mysterious gases. She used her handkerchief to cover her nose and ran to Ichigo's side, covering his nose with her handkerchief too. When she looked back to the scenario, most of the men were laying on the ground, unconscious. Barragan, and a few other men however, still managed to stand up, their noses all covered. It seemed like they had covered their noses in time before the gases entered to their system. She was dead now.

The sound of footsteps came closer and a cold voice penetrated the suffocating and intense silence, "Barragan Louisebairn." Orihime looked up and saw a pale white skin, black hair and green eyes coming closer to where Barragan was, behind him was a gigantic man with tan skin and ridge-lined cranium. The two new men were wearing white robes, black line around the collar and wrists, under the robes were black shirts with a symbol of a white half moon on the left collar. "I hereby announce you a traitor of Hueco Mundo and will execute you right here, right now by the order of the lord of Las Noches, Aizen Sousuke."

Orihime's heart stopped as she saw the fear on the men's faces. Barragan still maintained his icy and emotionless face, but Orihime knew he must feel very insecure inside.

The man with the black hair and smaller body came closer to Barragan. No trace of emotion could be found on his face although Barragan's men was pointing their guns at him. As he slowly put his right hand in his pocket, one of the men in black yelled,

"Stop it or I'll shoot you."

Completely ignoring the man, he looked at Barragan, his face was still as frigid as stone, "You have nowhere to run now. Aizen-sama has planed it all out. Once you are exiled from Hueco Mundo, without the protection of Las Noches and Aizen-sama, you will be completely defenseless against your other enemies and the police. The moment you step out of this street, you will be the target of hungry wolves that cannot wait to rip you into pieces. Even if you return to Spain, Aizen-sama will make sure his friends there will prepare for you adequate presents to say his thanks for your service here."

Barragan's men were now trembling in fear, some didn't even gather enough courage to hold the guns any more, their hands were shaking and their legs looked like they would fall down at any moment. However, Barragan himself hadn't shown any signs of fear or anger. It amazed Orihime how he could be so calm in this situation. Age sure had its advantages, he must have experienced countless similar situations before, such that it didn't seem to affect him one bit.

The man with green eyes pulled his gun out and pointed it at Barragan, "You should thank Aizen-sama for giving you a painless death. His order was that if his wife was safe and sound you could die in peace, seeing this as the way he says his respect for an admirable former Hueco Mundo leader. You're really lucky that she hasn't lost one strand of hair or even I wouldn't know what would happen to you."

Like a flash, Barragan charged at the green-eyed man and broke his right arm in half, dropping the gun down to the ground. It was too fast for Orihime to see what was really happening. He angrily snapped at the young man, "Who do you think you are to lecture me, kid? You are a hundred times too young to talk in equality to me."

The young man didn't even flinch one bit, he just turned his eyes to look at Barragan, "You are indeed strong, Barragan Louisenbairn. You have my respect. Rarely do I meet someone who could reach my speed. But you know... " Before he finished his sentence he had injected something into Barragan's chest with his left hand with a speed that was even faster than Barragan's, "You are old. Even I could take you out with just my left hand, you are no opponent to Aizen-sama."

Barragan fell to the ground, breathing heavily. He tried to stand up again but his legs seemed dead, he fell down again the moment his body raised up a little bit. "What did you do to me?" he panted.

The man looked at him mercilessly, "It does not matter what I did to you. It's all predestined by Aizen-sama. No matter what happens, the results will be the same. Your fate is already decided by him."

The poison or whatever the young man injected into Barragan's body seemed to take away every single strength he had. He gathered all of his energy and murmured incoherently between breaths, "You... do-don't you dare to t-ta...talk about fate to me. I don't beli..." His breathing became heavier and he looked like he could not breath anymore, but suddenly he pounded his fists hard on the ground, smashing the solid ground completely. "No one will decide my fate but myself. Only I will create my own destiny. This is nothing." He panted, "I have experienced much worse. This is nothing. I will not die. I will not die like this. I cannot allow myself to die like this."

"Do you want to die faster? I have injected a newly created vaccine into your body, it will stop your blood flow the more you move your body. So, if you want to keep your life a little longer, I advise you to not do anything rash like what you just did. You're killing yourself faster." The black-haired man picked up the gun on the ground with his left hand, "I'll do you a favor and end all of your pain now."

Immediately the few of the old man' subordinates who were still conscious charged at the young man, but he had placidly told his friend, "Yammy."

Like a flash, the big giant grabbed the men one by one and threw them off like trash. Now the ground was full of lifeless bodies, only Barragan was still kneeling, trying hard just to breathe. The black-haired man with green eyes was ready to shoot the old man now. Orihime tightened her fists. She remembered Barragan's look when she asked him to get to the car. He knew, he knew she was lying, but he still trusted her. Why? Tears rolled down on her cheeks. She was a terrible person but this was the least she could do for him.

She ran in front of the old man and spread her hands. She told the young man with black hair, "Stop it. Do not kill him."

The man raised his eyes brow in surprise, "Aizen-sama, please get out. It's too dangerous."

But she looked at him fiercely, "Do not kill." Tears fell down like rain on her cheeks. "Do not take anyone's life because of me anymore. Do not make Sousuke a heartless murderer anymore. It's enough. Please, stop. Please, stop."

The man looked into her eyes for a very long time before he dropped the gun and told his friend, "Take him and his men back to Las Noches, I'll report back to Aizen-sama later."

As the man named Yammy and several other men in the same uniform as Yammy and the black-haired man towed Barragan and his men away, Orihime tugged the black-haired man's sleeve in panic, "Please, my body guard...he's badly injured."

The man looked at her coldly, "An ambulance is on its way and our medical team will take a good care of him." He turned his back and left, but then he turned his head back toward her and said, "By the way, do never do anything that stupid again. You could have been killed. And my name is Ulquiorra Cifer."

She looked at the man's back as it went further and further away. He was too cold and emotionless, but why at the end did he want to let her know his name? It was weird of him to do so. He didn't look like the kind of person to tell something that was not asked.

:( Xx...xX-Ichi...Xx...xX...Hime-Xx...xX :(

_It's raining, heavily so. Why doesn't it stop? Why doesn't it stop raining? Too long. It has been raining for too long. Stop. Stop now. I want no more rain._

Ichigo opened his eyes as a tear dropped down his face. Beautiful, beautiful eyes were looking at him, huge gray eyes, still wet with water. He wanted to raise his hands and touch her, wanted to have a closer look at those eyes.

_The rain stopped._

Why did she look so sad? Had he made her unhappy? What should he do to make her happy? He would do anything...anything... to make her smile again.

"Kurosaki-kun. You're awake." She smiled, hastily wiping her tears away with her shelves. "I was so worried. Thank God that you are safe."

He smiled at her affectionately, "I'm fine." Then his head hurt so much that he had to cover it with his hands. He forgot something, something very important. Where was he? He looked around. He seemed to be in a hospital because his bed and blanket were all white. The wall was white too. He was in a small room. There was a vase of white daisies on the table next to the bed. No one else there but he and Orihime. What had happened? It hurt. His head hurt so bad. No. It was not his head that hurt. His heart. Why did it hurt so much?

"Kurosaki-kun, are you ok?" She looked at him, full of concern. "Let me call the doctor. You just woke up after the surgery..." But he grabbed her hand and stopped her.

"Don't. Do not leave me." This pain. Why did he feel so much pain? It was like there was a mountain landed on his heart that threatened to crush it completely. So heavy.

"I'm sorry, Kurosaki-kun. It was all because of me... that you're..." Tears began to roll slowly down her beautiful cheeks, and a ray of sunlight happened to cross over her face and made it shine brightly like a new moon in a dark night. Then he remembered something.

"I was happy. I was very happy that I could fight to protect you." He clenched his fists. Then he remembered something else. "Sorry that I could not protect you."

"Kurosaki-kun.." Tears rolled faster and faster on her cheeks. "It was all because of me that you were shot. You could have died. All because of me."

No. That was wrong. Even if he was injured, if it was for her, if it was to protect her, he would rise up again and protect her until his body could not move again. He would protect her with his last breath. He would never give up. Why? Why did he stop? Why couldn't he protect her? What happened?

She was still crying. Pearl-like tears wet her innocent face and made her ten times more beautiful than usual, ten times more pure, more innocent. Pure... Innocent... Lie. It was all a lie.

_Rain. It rained again, heavily so. He was alone in the rain. _

She looked at him with those unadulterated eyes again. _Lie. All lies._

She opened her lovely mouth to ask about his health again. _Only treacherous words came out of that traitorous mouth._

_He was soaked in the rain. Everything around him was foggy and blurred, but every single word she said to Barragan still echoed in his ears, piercing through his chest, cutting every single muscle into pieces. Why he was hurt that much by this girl, he knew not. He just knew that he could not move, his body was paralyzed under the pain as she took off her masks one layer after the next, revealing her true face. He didn't know what's truth and what's lie any more. Everything began to fade into the darkness, her fake sweet voice also dissolved slowly into the air, and he was completely alone in the darkness, soaking in the rain._

_Will you do everything to complete this mission?_

What was he? A fool? What did he do with his precious time? Wasted it, being infatuated by a manipulative criminal. From now on, he would no longer be a fool. He would not be blinded by her false beauty and kindness. He would devote wholeheartedly to the mission.

Ichigo put his hands on top of Orihime's,

"Inoue, I have something I need to tell you."

One last time, he would let himself be absorbed by her huge gray orbs this last time, looking into those untainted beautiful eyes one last time. Although it was all fake, he would indulge himself just this one last time.

"I know that you're still in love with your husband." From now on, he would never be fooled by those false pure eyes again. "Do not divorce him. Give him a chance. And..."

From now on, she would be nothing but a chess piece, and it was his duty to use her well. "And give yourself a chance too."

XxXxXxXx

Orihime could not believe her ears. Ichigo was advising her to be with Aizen again. Her heart twisted and wrenched painfully in her chest. Why did those words feel like poison, killing her slowly and mercilessly when it came out of his mouth? Why was he the last person on earth she wanted to hear those words from? Did he really see her as nothing more than a friend, or even worse, a client, someone he needed to protect?

She wanted to pull her hands off him and tell him that he was the one she wanted to be with, that if it was for him, she could do anything, but then she spotted that look in his eyes and she understood.

If she was the light in Aizen's darkness, then she was the darkness in Ichigo's light. He was so righteous, so straightforward, so pure. To him the world was either black or white, there was no middle ground, but her life as she knew it was mixed by different colors. Aizen had taught her that there was neither lie nor truth in this world, but people made it so. She wished she could be like Ichigo, bathed completely in the light, just charge right ahead without any darkness tainting her heart, but she could not. She chose Aizen ten years ago, and from that moment she had agreed to step out of the bright sun and entered into the darkness with him.

That was why... That was why she always looked up to Ichigo the moment she saw him. She envied him, she admired him, she wanted to return to the Orihime who was once like him. She wanted to be with him because she had the feeling that was where she belonged, that she could be herself when he was next to her, but she was wrong, all wrong. He said it himself, that Aizen was where she belonged.

"You know, Inoue." He continued, still gazing at her with those beautiful brown eyes. "You told me that you could not accept what your husband was doing, but I thought... " He paused, showing her the sincerity in his eyes, " but I think that you are the only one who could change him, you are the only one who could save these innocent people like the girl we met the other day. Please, Inoue, stay with him and prevent any unfortunate incidents from happening."

She smiled at him, hiding her pain deep inside her heart. "You are right, Kurosaki-kun. I'll stay with him because...I guess I still love him after all." For a moment she thought she saw a slash of pain in his eyes, but she must be wrong. He did not hold any feelings for her at all, nothing at all. "You should rest. I'll visit you later."

She wanted to run out of the room because she could not contain her tears any longer, but she still held it. She turned her back away from him and slowly left the room.

XxXxXX

XxXxXx-UlquiHime ?, of course not, just kidding-XxXxXx

XxXxXX

Orihime leaned her back against the hospital wall, letting her tears freely fall down her cheek. Ichigo was right. She was still in love with Aizen, otherwise she wouldn't think of him the moment she was in danger. Until now, she was still waiting for him to come and hold her tight in his arms, asking if she was alright. She had no right, no right at all to be with Ichigo or even think about him while her heart still belonged to another. That settled it. She would not run away anymore, she would face her feelings and Aizen head on.

Orihime raised her head and looked around as she felt someone' eyes gaze at her. The man with the name Ulquiorra, if she remembered it right, was leaning his back on the opposite wall, his left hand in his pocket, but he had not taken his eyes off her yet even when she stare back at him.

She came closer to him and smiled, but he still kept his face static and refused to smile back, but that only made her broaden her smile. Something about him made her feel at ease and... and even funny. She looked at his right hand with widened eyes. How could this man treat his own body like this?

She carefully held his broken right arm in her hands and frowned, "Do you feel no pain at all?"

But he only moved his eyes a little bit to the right to meet her face but did not do anything else to respond.

"I am asking you if you feel any pain in your right arm at all. How could you bear it for the past two hours? Are you even human?"

But the man insisted on playing dumb and stood like a statue, not moving a single muscle. She sighed. How could he get hired by her husband if he never opened his mouth? Anyway, she needed to get his arm healed and do it fast. Sometimes she wished she had supernatural power and could heal people in a blink of eyes since she could not stand it when people was injured.

She grabbed his left arm and intended to bring him to the doctor, but to her surprise, she could not move him even one inch out of his current position. Angry, she used all of her strength trying to move him, but he was heavy like a mountain, despite his skinny-looking body. If she didn't know any better she would think that he was playing with her, because he seemed to root into the floor and become unmovable although she had used every single ounce of her energy, trying to drag him out. On second though, he certainly was teasing her. Although his face was emotionless as ever, she could see his mocking look at her as others covered their mouths, laughing at her abnormal behavior when they passed by.

Face burning, she would not give up, she had to bring him to the doctor with all costs. Suddenly he moved forward, making her off balance, falling down on the floor. Great, now she looked like a fool.

"You are a fool." He said in his calm voice, totally satisfied at her embarrassment, she guessed, because she could not read any emotion on his face at all, but she could feel it in his voice. She stood up and frowned at him, "So you know how to talk. Then good, let's go to see a doctor, we need to get your arm healed."

"Fools usually die very early because they don't know how to manage to keep their lives." What was he talking about, shouldn't he care more about his arm now?

Orihime grabbed his arm again, "Then to prove that you're not a fool, let's go see a doctor, ok?"

The man looked at her firmly, "You could have been killed earlier, Aizen-sama. And even worse, your rash behavior could spoil my plan. You could have been held hostage easily, and been kidnapped and killed. I demand you act more mature in the future."

She could not believe it. A man who was toying with his own body now lectured her about her life, but he was certainly angry about something. She looked at him firmly too. "Ulquiorra-san, I appreciate it that you saved my life, but I do not regret what I did earlier at all. When I did that, I was well aware of the consequences. I knew that I could have been killed or taken hostage, that I could ruin your plan, but I could not stand there, doing nothing while you were taking life of another in front of my eyes." Her voice was rising as she became angrier, "You had no right to kill him, no one has the right to take another life. And I am willing to exchange my life if I have to do so."

"No wonder Aizen-sama cannot put up with you." His words sliced through her heart and made her completely speechless, but he continued, "You cannot blame anyone but yourself that he has left you. No one can stand a woman like you."

She turned away and wiped her newborn tears away. No, she would not cry in front of this terrible man. Not only was he a ruthless man who did not hesitate one bit to end another life in front of him, but he was also a jerk who knew nothing about her and her husband, but could say such awful things to her.

He was injured, she reminded herself and stopped. He saved her life and Ichigo's, too. If she didn't take him to the doctor, he might let his arm stay like this, and it must hurt, a lot.

She turned around to face him and put her hands on his left arm again, "Let's go to see a doctor, please." She looked at him, begging. Suddenly, his body seemed much lighter now and he allowed her to drag him along.

XxXxXx

Orihime looked at Ulquiorra's banded arm and claped her hands together, "I'm so glad that it is not serious. Do you feel better now?"

"You're strange, Aizen-sama."

Orihime raised her eyebrows, "Do not call me Aizen-sama. When people call me like that, I don't know if they are talking to me or my husband."

"Then what should I call you, Aizen-sama?" He was surprisingly polite after his arm was healed. Maybe he was just irritated before because of the pain.

"You can call me whatever you like." Orihime smiled.

"Then which name do you prefer, Aizen-sama: trash, stupid, fool, brainless..."

"No, stop. Stop it." No, she took it back, his rudeness was incurable and was not caused by anything but his wicked nature.

"Then how does Onna sound, Aizen-sama?"

Onna, what was he thinking in his little brain? Orihime shook her head ferociously, "No, just call me Aizen-sama please."

She could see the victory on his icy expressionless face, but she just sighed. She looked out of the window. What should she do tomorrow? Recently, everything just got so complicated. She felt so tired, she didn't know how long she could continue standing up until being crushed completely by an unforeseen future.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **Don't forget to drop a review on your way out if you like this chapter :). *wink wink*


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: **Sorry it took like forever to update.

This chapter was darn hard to write.

This chapter is the second to the last chapter.

(2/3/2012)

* * *

><p>Aizen took a sip of tea while observing the patient on the hospital bed carefully. Kurosaki Ichigo, 26, single, had no family or relatives, growing up in an orphanage. He was a very strong martial artist, black belts in Judo, Tae Kwon Do, Karate, very proficient in kendo and even kyudo- a naturally born fighter. He seemed to be a very loyal employee too. Kurosaki Ichigo was a rare jewel in an ocean. If only he would take it and mold it in his hand...Just like Orihime...so pure yet full of energy; but he could not do anything to her, for he loved her and did not want to change her substance...Why did he keep thinking about her whether his mind was occupied by other things or not? It had been ten years, and the effect of this woman on him had not changed one bit. Sometimes he questioned himself if he still loved her, but when he could not meet her like this, he knew that he could not live without her, that of course he loved her.<p>

Sighing, he returned his thoughts back to the patient in front of him. He was perfect, yet there was still something fishy about him. He must not come from an orphanage. Someone who was abandoned and lived without love could not have such eyes, eyes that wanted to protect people he loved from any danger. He should not know how to be loved and love back, he should only want to protect him and himself only...yet there were exceptions- yes, exceptions...Anyway, it did not matter...He smirked inwardly. Even if he was a spy, it would only make things more fun. It had become unbearably boring and lonely lately without Orihime...

Putting the mug of tea back on the small table, Aizen smiled at Ichigo.

"Kurosaki-san, I would like to say my thanks for your exceptional performance in saving my wife. Without you, she would have been killed."

"No." The man cast his eyes downward, full of sorrow. "I did not do anything... I could not help her at all... She did everything by her own and then..."

"On the contrary, Kurosaki-san, you did plenty. First, you helped to stall for time. Second, more importantly, you helped Orihime to realize a certain truth of this world that she refused to accept no matter how much I kept telling her." He smirked, "I hope she understands it by now and that she will look at me with different eyes and stop nagging me with her naive and unrealistic philosophies. She can be a difficult student sometime, you know..."

The man did not say anything for a while but then he suddenly broke the silence. "Can you come back to her, Aizen-sama?"

His eyes darkened, Aizen asked casually and took the mug of tea up again, "and why is that, may I ask, Kurosaki-san?"

The man looked straight into his eyes, the young brown eyes full of determination, "she was very upset and miserable without you, Aizen-sama. I can feel it, she loves you, and it pained my heart to see you two like this when you are still very much in love with each other. I know it is not my place to say anything in this matter, but In...I mean your wife...she...she..."

Putting the mug down, Aizen smiled at the young man, "You must care for her a lot."

Not hesitantly, he nodded his head. Such a pure child. "I do. I care for her a lot. I don't want to see her sad, and I know she misses you terribly. She could not get much sleep since you left, and she has a big appetite, you know, but recently, she has not been eating that much anymore, and she cried...Please, Aizen-sama, if you still love her, please do not torture her any more, please come back to her and make her smile again..."

Feeling the air so suffocating, Aizen stood up and managed to put a smile on his face. "You must be very tired, Kurosaki-san. I will not bother you anymore."

_She did not get a lot of sleep_...He came to the door and opened it... _Did not eat well_..._cried...she was crying..._ He was not the only one living in Hell without her around.

Closing the door, he faced an Orihime walking to the room with a basket of fruit in her hand. She looked so pale and skinny...Her eyes met his, and he was paralyzed under her gaze, longing, hating, loving, resenting, hurt, caring...her eyes were so full of mixed emotions that he did not know what to do with it. Why was he always so helpless with her around?

He came closer and did the most natural thing that his body remembered, grabbing her head and pulling her into a deep kiss. How he missed her lips, her scent, her hair, her body, everything... Her arms wrapped around his neck to pull him closer to her body. He knew it. They were destined to be with one another, now and forever.

XxXxXxXxXx

The cafe patio was packed today. All twelve tables were occupied by couples or groups of friends who wanted to enjoy the sun light of the Sunday, watching children running around the fountain, people shopping around the stores nearby. Such a pleasant scene to see. Standing next to the couple who was holding hands and looking lovingly into each other's eyes, Ichigo could not find any joy in this peaceful Sunday. Everything was according to plan. Grateful for Ichigo's help in bringing his wife back to him, Aizen began to assign him some errands around besides his main duty to protect Orihime. Ichigo could see that Aizen began to trust him more, being more comfortable with him around, and allowed him to follow the couple wherever they went. To Ichigo, however, it was a torment...to see her smile at another man, holding his hands, kissing him, getting touched and caressed by him...

What was he thinking? She was the wife of another. It was natural.

Aizen leaned closer to place an unexpected kiss on Orihime's lips, which in turn made her giggle in surprise and embarrassment. "Sousuke, we should not do it here." Orihime, in her white sun dress and light blue sweater, looked absolutely stunning today, especially when she smiled-all the light seemed to gather around her, dancing, whirling, brightening the whole space and stopping the time, like she was the only being that existed in this world.

Aizen moved his chair closer and wrapped his arm around her waist, bringing her closer to his body, lingering his breath around her neck, he whispered. "Who cares? Today is my birthday." He tightened his grip, "Shouldn't you only care for how to make me happy?", but before he could kiss her again, a cold voice had pierced through the warm loving air of the couple.

"You two look so happy together, and it's only three months after Momo died."

Standing in the middle of the patio was chief police officer, Hitsugaya Toushiro, in his white shirt, black pants, his hands in his pants' pockets, his spiky white hair flew lightly under the small breezes, his eyes glued on Aizen, full of hate. Ichigo sighed, so this was the stage Urahara told him about; he would have to start his role not long after this.

Orihime tremblingly pushed Aizen away, and looked at Hitsugaya in horror. Aizen, on the other hand, only twisted his eyebrows slightly then smiled at the midget. "What a surprise to see you on this fine morning, _Shiro-chan?" _Aizen's eyes darkened as he said the last word, but then he smiled again and looked at the white haired man mockingly.

Hitsugaya launched into Aizen only to be stopped by Ichigo. "How dare you call me by the name only she can say?"

Gripping the chief police officer's shoulder, Ichigo tried to calm him down, "Sir, please calm down. This is a public place. I fully advise you to leave." Ichigo tried to make eye contact with the young man and signal him to proceed with the plan, but he was too angry to notice anything, "Get me out. I have to teach him a lesson."

"Shiro-chan." Aizen took a sip of coffee and softly put the cup down, "You have not changed one bit." He let a smirk creep through his face, "No wonder why you could not protect your important people."

Orihime angrily stood up and loudly pushed the chair away. "Kurosaki-kun, I want to leave now. Please prepare the car for me."

Begging in his eyes, Aizen grabbed her wrist, "Orihime." He stood up to level his eyes with her, "Orihime, how many times do you want to let a dead person affect our lives?'

Orihime looked up to him, tears in her eyes. "When you are like this, Sousuke, I feel like I cannot touch you, like we really belong to two different worlds."

"Stop your act, both of you." Hitsugaya looked at the couple hatefully. "You," he pointed his finger at Orihime, "to protect your husband, you said something to her on the date you visited her at the prison, right? She was so ready to tell us about Aizen, but after the meeting with you, she sealed her mouth and did not say a word. Three days later, she hung herself with the scarf he gave her. You killed her." He yelled, "you said something to kill her off."

Aizen looked at the shaking Orihime, full of doubt, "You met her? You never told me that you met her. You even blamed me for her death, but you never told me that you met her three days before that."

Breathing heavily, Orihime tried to get out of her husband's grip, "get off of me." Tears began to flood her eyes, "yes, I did go and see her." Her eyes were now on Hitsugaya, "but...", she sobbed and then ran out of the scene, leaving Aizen standing dumbfounded, full of rage.

XxXxXxXx

Running hard after Orihime, Ichigo grabbed her hands as they went into the parking lot.

"Inoue." He hugged her from behind to keep her from shaking any further.

"Kurosaki-kun, I really don't know..." She continued to sob, "I really don't know what to do anymore. Really...I did not know that what I said made her commit..."

"Shush." Ichigo kissed on her temple, "it's not your fault. It's not your fault." Holding his urge to touch her fragile body, to brush his lips on her swan-like neck, he took his hands back, "Let's go home."

"I...I want to visit her...Can you give me a ride to the graveyard?"

Nodding, he got her to the car. Everything was according to plan.

Sitting next to Ichigo in the car, Orihime did not say anything until Ichigo decided to break the silence and get more information out of her as they began to go into the freeway. "Inoue...who is this Momo that they just talked about?"

"She...?" Smiling faintly, Orihime turned her gaze out of the car window, "oh, I guess an old friend..." Tracing her fingers around the window to draw undefined images, Orihime sighed, "or maybe a long time love rival...probably more precisely, another one of my husband's lovers..."

Placing his hand on top of hesr, he smiled, "Inoue, I'm here for you. I know you are not feeling well today. Tell me...you will feel better. You don't have to bear everything on your shoulders. Share it with me. I'm your friend."

She turned her head and looked at him with eyes that were full of appreciation and longing, so intense and emotional that it melted his heart. He just wanted to hold her tight in his arms and never let her go.

"I knew her ten year ago. We were in the same high school. She was one year older than me, a very loyal student of my husband."

"A loyal student of your husband...?" Ichigo smoothly changed the lane to the right to slightly increase his speed on the empty lane. He did not know much about Orihime and her husband. All that he knew from the file was that they had been married for three years, and even that information was rare, and it seemed like not a lot of people knew about it. Other information about them was just seemingly not there...unattainable. Urahara seemed to know a lot, but then again, he just spilled out some and hid most of it.

Laughing softly, Orihime continued, "Oh, that's right. Maybe you don't know. My husband was a high school teacher ten year ago. Both Momo and myself were his students. She was always a big fan of him back then, following him everywhere and worshiping everything he said. I did not know if he also got intimate with her since then, but..." She cast her eyes down to the her lap with shame, "but we, me and my husband, had been seeing each other since my first year of high school..."

"Seeing each other...?" Suddenly Ichigo felt stings in his stomach. What did she mean by seeing? Did she mean that...they... His breath accelerated but he had no way to control it now. Ichigo could feel that the speed of the car had slightly increased again, yet he was in no mood to slow it down.

"Yes, I slept with him." Orihime averted her eyes to the road ahead, "I slept with my own teacher." She tucked her hair behind her ears and looked at him. His heart skipped a beat. Her eyes were so bright and sharp that it pireced through his soul, and locked him forever in her gaze. "Am I disgusting?"

Slept with her own teacher... That was just exactly the kind of person she was. There were no mistakes about it. He gripped the wheel with such force that he did not know existed. Why should he care? Damn it. Why did he care so much? Why couldn't he find her disgusting?

"I see." She turned her head away, pretending to look at the outside scene.

Ichigo did not know what to say, neither did he want to say anything, so he just placed his hand on her and squeezed it lightly. Shyly, almost naturally, he intertwined his fingers with her.

"Thank you, Kurosaki-kun."

There was a warming fire that spread from his stomach straight to his chest and burned his hardened heart. No, he should not be like this. He should not have any feelings for her. She was not worth it. She was at the core of what he always hated, using and controlling people for her own desire, but he could not help but to be drawn into her bright eyes, be washed away by her sweet voice, be electrified by the way their hands entangled with each other, be happy at the way she smiled at him so beautifully.

It should not be. I should not be. He should focus on the mission now. Focus on the mission. Focus on the mission. It was crucial that he could get more information about Hinamori from her since Hitsugaya insisted that she knew something and could be involved in the young woman's death.

"Inoue. So you knew Momo-san through your husband?"

Sighing, Orihime took her hand back and placed it on her lap. "We were in the same school, and since he was my teacher and..., and she was his favorite student. I knew her but we never really talked...During my last year of high school, our principal died and although my husband was just a newly appointed vice principal at that time, he was exceptionally popular and talented, so almost immediately he was nominated to become the next principal."

She rubbed her wedding ring gently, "Sousuke...really cared for me a lot...", but then she stopped and turned her head back to him, changing the subject. "Sorry about that, about Hinamori-san. She continued to follow my husband even after she graduated from high school, and as my husband expanded his career into other fields of business, he also gathered a lot of loyal followers, and who would be better suit than his beloved student? During the time when I was in college, I never once met her, only heard about her through my husband. I knew that they were close, but I also believed that he thought of her as nothing other than a favorite student and subordinate."

Clasping her hands together, Orihime sighed again. "Then three years ago, when my husband and I decided it was time to get married, Momo showed up in front of my door and accused me of being a third person."

Orihime cast her eyes down her lap sorrowfully, "I knew that we had to keep our relationship a secret, but I kind of hoped that he could at least tell people that were close to him about me, especially when I already graduated from high school and was no longer his student. However, it seemed like Momo did not know one bit about our forbidden relationship. She thought that I just began with Aizen recently and I tried to break Aizen and her up by forcing him to marry me. Not until that time that did I know he was also in a relationship with another woman."

She made a sarcastical sound in her throat, "and it is surprising how people in our school were so blinded. We had been together for the whole three years when I was in high school, but nobody seemed to know, even Momo, his most devoted student. Sousuke was right, everyone looked at him through a mirror, no one really saw him. All they saw, no, all what they wanted to see was an illusion."

"So why did you still marry him, knowing that he was unfaithful to you?" Ichigo changed the lane to the right, ready to exist the freeway.

She buried her head into her hands, "because I loved him. We had been very happy for those seven years, and at that time I could not imagine a life without him." She dug her head harder into her hands, "I could not live without him. He was everything I ever had, everything I ever wanted."

"But it also began to create the hole of our relationship." She took her handkerchief out and wiped her tears away. "Obviously, I could not trust him like I used to, and although I did not say anything about my meeting with Momo, I began to watch him more than before, and distanced myself from him. Because of that, I began to notice things I tried to ignore before..."

Suddenly she kept silence and a chill ran down his spine as he met her eyes through the mirror. Did she see something in his eyes or his facial expression that gave away his true intent? He feared that she saw the slash of excitement in his eyes as she was beginning to reveal some of her husband's questionable demeanor. However, she quickly averted her eyes back to her lap and continued the conversation. "Anyway, last year I had big fight with him, and in my anger I revealed that I knew about his relationship with Momo." A tear quietly rolled down her cheek. "One month later, she was arrested for money laundering. If I had not spilled it out,..." she sobbed, "If I did not let him know that Momo told me about their relationship, she..."

Exiting out of the free way and on the road to the graveyard, trying not to show her his true intention, Ichigo cautiously asked her, "so you met her one last time in prison..." Seeing no response, he tried to push it further, "Inoue, is what the young man we just met said true? To protect your husband, you asked her to..."

Her face became paler and paler, but she did not say anything. When they reached the gate, she just smiled faintly, "maybe..." Then she opened the door and got out of the car.

XxXxXxXxXxX

Summer had not yet come but spring seemed to hurry to pass. The last glamour of a forbidden love was also being washed away without warning. It was such a lie that she could come back to her husband and act like nothing had happened. It was such a lie that they could be together after all that happened.

She slid in between the brushes and let her footsteps leave marks on the softened ground. The sky seemed to resonate with her mood. Dark clouds hovered around the once clear blue sky, calling the big storms to stir the faked tranquility of the late spring day.

Stopping at the grave of Momo, she saw that someone had put a lily bouquet on the marble ground. Talking of that, Aizen got up really early this morning to go somewhere before he came back and brought her downtown. Today was his birthday after all. She traced her fingers around the engraved words.

"Momo, you don't have to be sad. No matter what he did, no matter what he said, I know that you do occupy a place in his heart, somewhere that even I could not reach. Sorry that I ruined everything." Her eyes were so dry that she could not cry anymore. "But what I promised you...I will complete it."

Thunder struck right in the middle of the gloomy sky and lightened a figure that hid between the brushes. The figure stepped out and smirked at her. "Orihime-san, long time no see."

She looked at him with puzzled eyes. She did not remember meeting him before. He was a middle aged man with blond hair under a big bucket hat, wearing a dark green shirt and pants topped with a black coat with a white diamond patterns along its bottom half.

"I...I don't know you." She eyed the man again from head to toe, trying to remember where and when did she meet him.

The man waved his fan to cover half of his face. "Urahara Kisuke. Does that name remind you of something?"

She shook her head. She tried her best but still could not recall seeing him before.

"How about the name Hirako Shinji?"

Startled, she looked at him like she was seeing a ghost. " He was the principal when I was in high school. I thought he was dead."

"Don't worry, don't worry. He is still dead, but I'm the officer who investigated his death at that time.'

Flashbacks of the past came back to her and in the fragment of her memory she did remember the name and the face of the police officer at that time.

"What do you want from me?" Even she was chilled by the coldness in her own voice, but she had such a bad feeling about this that she really did not want to get involved with this man.

"How heartless? If you already came to the graveyard, why not give your old principal a visit?"

"I really did not know him that much..."

"But your husband sure did. He was the vice principal before Shinji died, wasn't he?" The man came closer to her and pierced his deep gray eyes into her own, like it could pry into her mind and read everything in it."

Trembling slightly, Orihime bit her lower lip to keep her cool, "but he was only the vice principal for two months before the incident, they really did not..."

"The incident? So you seem to believe that he committed suicide too?"

The man now closed his fan and put it in his hand. His eyes were so intense she could not breathe just by looking at those abysmal orbs.

"I-I..", she stuttered, "I r-really don't know...". Her legs were so weak now she thought she would swoon over at any moment. She did not know what the man was talking about, but she did not want to hear it one bit.

"Come with me."

He led her through curvy and rough road around and around until they reached a lone grave in a remote area of the yard. Signaling her to sit on a large rock, he dusted the grave with a small cloth, "you know, Shinji was not the kind who committed suicidel."

Naturally, the smell of grass always freshened her mood, but today when the humidity of the air under the cold wind mixed with the smell dirt and mud, the nature grass scent made her feel suffocated, disgusted, sick, ill...

_She remembered the man, and she remembered how Aizen had told her he did not like the man..._

_She remembered the way his tall slender frame swayed back and forth sometimes when he walked, so unsteadily, like he had nothing in the world that was worth caring for. He joked, he teased, he made fun of his students, yet he cared for them more than anyone else. He used to tell his students that each of them was a seed that needed to be nurtured and taken great care of, and he could not hide the pride in his eyes when a seed grew and bloomed into a beautiful flower. He was very protective of his students although most of the time he was strict and unpredictable. Naturally, he was loved more than anyone else in school, even much more so than the ever popular young charming Aizen..._

_She remembered the day she got out of Aizen's office, all flushed and exhausted from the intense and sinful activities they had been doing after school, panicked and worried when she saw the principal walk toward the office. Her heart almost stopped as he swept his eyes over her body and asked in his polite but doubtful voice what was she doing this late in school while everyone else had left. No words could get out of her mouth as fear paralyzed her ability to think and respond. Her brain numbed under the realization of what would happen to Aizen if they were to get caught. However, Aizen appeared right behind her, as calm and collected as ever, placidly explained to the principal the reason he asked her to stay at school longer and assured the blond haired man that he would give her a ride home, safe and sound. The man looked at the couple one last time, his eyes deep and unreadable, but then he nodded and walked away..._

"Do you think he was the kind who would commit suicide, Orihime-san?"

The voice of the strange man brought her back to reality. She tried to shake all of her dark thoughts out of her mind. "Like I said, I don't know much about him, and it has been like 8 years, I can barely remember anything since my high school days."

"Yet you married your own teacher..."

"It happened five years after I graduated from high school." She could feel the anger build up. It had been so long ago, she really did not want to bring up the sin she committed anymore, or even remember about it, think of it. "And I did not see any relation on what we are talking about, in fact, I don't even know what we are speaking of now and have no idea what you want. So if you don't mind, I want to go home." She stood up, "today is my husband's birthday, I really should not be talking nonsense with a stranger."

However, he placed his fan on her wrist to keep her from moving. "Orihime-san, I'm not done talking to you. As a matter of fact, it's all related to what we're about to talk about. Your relationship with your husband in high school was not simply an innocent teacher-student relationship, wasn't it?" He pulled out an old and torn notebook, "this is the diary I found in Shinji's study room after he died, it was not enough to accuse your husband of murder but enough to suspect that he was involved. Do you want to know what's in it?"

The sky was now covered completely with dark clouds and there were sounds of thunder. It was going to rain. She knew it. She loved the time when it rained and she cuddled into her husband's arms, reading a book or watching a movie together. The way he smiled so happily... The way he brushed his lips so innocently on her lips...

The cold voice continued to pierce through her ears, breaking the picture of the happy couple in half, all of the illusion, the hope, all gone now...

"In the diary, on the last date, a day before his death, he said that he had a heated argument with his newly appointed vice principal, and although the younger man insisted otherwise, Shinji had long suspected that he had a relationship with a student in the school. Shinji said in the diary, he would make serious investigation into the matter and bring the case out to light."

A drop of rain fell on her shoulder. What would Sousuke think if he knew she was standing under the rain? He would scold her for sure.

"It took me quite some time to figure out who was the student, but I think it's clear now that it must be you."

She wanted to get out of here, to go to where Sousuke was. He must be dead worried by now. She turned her back and left, walking on the muddy grasses, trying to find Sousuke, her husband, but she could not find him anywhere. She walked and walked. The rain became heavier and heavier, but she could still hear the last words of the man, "Shinji did not commit suicide, someone killed him off to cover their wrongdoing."

Soaking, she stopped as lighting struck right above her head. She wondered what it felt like to be hit by lighting. It must hurt. Sousuke would not want it so. Where was Sousuke? Today was his birthday, but where was he?

She walked once again, agonizingly slow since the mud tied her legs down and kept her from moving.

Then she saw something that looked like a beautiful field under the sun, completely dried and unaffected by the rain. It was not a field, it was a human, a knight in shining armor? She ran to the light, desperately wanted to escape the devouring darkness. As she was about to fall down on her knees, a pair of arms from the light caught her and pulled her into a whirlpool of light dust.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:**

Again, next chapter is the ending, so don't flinch, hang in there. Did anyone notice that I changed the setting to Romance/Drama? Is anyone going ask so what happened with the "tragedy"? Have I ever told you that I wrote everything on an impulse?

I have the ending draft so ready, now it's only a matter of dragging my lazy ass to edit it one last time. So I promise update will come within a week. Certainly not tomorrow, I'll be busy tomorrow. If I'm super hyper and motivated I might finish it by the end of this weekend. But maybe not, I'm not in the mood to do anything at all recently, so don't leave your hope up. Promise it'll come within a week though.

Thank you for reading :).

Big big hugs to all of my reviewers. Sorry I'm lazy I didn't reply to you, but I'll say something in the next chapter which is also the ending. Just let you know that without your supports, we would have not had the ending. I could have abandoned this story long ago when I was mentally distressed.


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N:**

Thank you : **ranipaki****, rootali, ****Sariniste****, ****happy-sagara****, ****Usio-Amamiya****, ****Angelina Cat****Pisces00**** , ****luversblues****, ****The0Blind0Writer****, ****metsfan101****, ****killerqueen04****, ****kisagi****, Ethereal, Jessica, Xanthina, queenBlade, ****mangaaddict300****, Cutsodeep, ichihime shaz, lala, Livia, ****FreeSoul1990****, ****Emmy The Ice princess****, ****Child of the Ashes****, Yuukiren, TheSnowLady, Pringles3, ME. **for your support.**  
><strong>

(2/9/12)

* * *

><p>Lips against lips.<p>

Warm kisses sparked her whole body with delight and comfort.

Strong arms wrapped around her waist protectively, reminding her that she was not alone in this dark world, that no matter what happened, he would always be there to protect her.

She felt like she was drugged, drunken in despair then was drugged and drunken again in false hope, illusion.

She could feel his essence spray deep inside her body, and at that time she realized the sin she just committed.

She was married.

But the one who nuzzled his head into her neck, grazing her skin with tenderness and care was not her husband.

The one who was filling her was not the man that she thought she loved for most of her life.

All that happened was because she was weak...unbelievably weak.

She closed her eyes. She would go to sleep. She would go to sleep, and when she opened her eyes again she would realize that it was all a bad nightmare.

XxXxXxXxXxX

She opened her eyes again. The rain seemed to have stopped completely. There was a sound of a grunt as the pair of arms that encircled on her waist pulled her closer to his body. Sousuke did not usually make sound like that. She turned her head to put a kiss on his lips.

That was how the whole world froze on her.

The lips moved, and the way they caressed her lips made her heart race with distress but her stomach was flooded with something that was warm like the sun yet had the after taste of the icy snow. The guilty feelings twisted around her chest, wanting to burst out, to explode- but his kiss smoothed and settled all of those feelings, putting everything into place, circling her world around and around.

He tasted like wine, a forbidden wine that she was afraid that she would too quickly get addicted to it, that she couldn't do anything, couldn't think of anything under its spell.

The speller smiled into her mouth, his hands fondling her breasts. "Did you have good sleep, Inoue?"

Blushing, almost uncontrollably, she nodded, and he kissed her again, putting her deeper and deeper into a delusional world where only two people existed...

That was how Inoue Orihime found herself woken up in the middle of the night, on the backseat of her car, naked, under the body of her bodyguard.

XxXxXxXxXx

Orihime opened the door of her bedroom. She could not see anything, for everything was cloaked under sheer darkness. She reached her hand to turn on the light, but then a deep voice stopped her.

"Don't."

He sat at a corner of the room, in his armchair, next to the window. She could make out the line of his frame through the dim light from the window. She came closer and closer to him, afraid of touching him.

"You know, Orihime. When we first met, I knew right away that you just pitied me. You were with me because you pitied me, didn't you? You did not love me back then, did you?"

She knelt down, brushing her fingertips up and down his long slender fingers, then brought his knuckles to her lips. "I did love you. You were such an admirable man back then. Your intelligence, your dark nature, everything about you drew me in."

"You still love me then?"

"I don't know..."

"Will you leave me?"

She looked at him, trying to remember the way his deep brown orbs shone so brightly today, "Will you let me go?"

"I cannot live without you."

"I will not leave you." She concluded. "I..We, you and me, have made too many mistakes together, too many sins. Even if I leave you, those sins will not leave me." She reached to his face and pulled it down, "I'll be with you and bear those sins together with you. It's my responsibility. The day I swore my vow was the day I agreed to shoulder your burdens and sins with you."

"You don't have to" he murmured, quiver in his voice, "You don't have to. Don't share the sins with me. Let's divorce, let's end this. I won't bind you to this darkness any further."

"It's ok, Sousuke." She hugged him. "We'll end this together somehow."

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

XxXxXxXxXx

Ichigo watched the woman in front of him in silence. They had not said anything to each other for the whole hour. She just quietly wrapped the candies together.

"Inoue." He tried to break the silence.

"I talked to Sousuke. He'll make you one of his bodyguards. You don't need to babysit me anymore."

"I never thought of this job as babysitting you." He turned her shoulders, making her face him, in anger. "Inoue, look at me. You have not talked to me since...last night...We..."

"I don't love you."

She said it so simply, the world almost collapsed on him.

"But I love you." He grabbed her head and kissed her hard on her lips. She resisted, she placed her hands on his chest, trying to push him away, but he kissed her harder, pulling her body closer to his. Her body went weak, her fingers trailed down on his chest. He pressed her against the wall and began to attack her neck.

"Stop. Stop it." But he could not stop it, how could he stop it? He would go crazy. Everything went according to plan. Urahara figured that if he bedded her, it could be easier to control her and the operation would go smoother, and indeed he would come near to Aizen soon. Aizen just called him this morning, telling him about the promotion. However, everything was not according to plan.

He thought that he hated her, that he could think of her as a chess piece, that he could lie to her, could manipulate her. However, one thing he did not expect was that he could not lie to himself.

He did not know why, he did not know how, but he had fallen in love with her. Last night, when he slept with her, it was not because of the plan, it was not because he needed to do so to advance his course. It was because he could not stand the way her soul degraded, the way it crumbled under the pain. He could not stand her crying. He wanted to do something to make her feel better, to reverse the pain, to comfort her. He wanted to sweep his lips over that trembling, hopeless, lifeless body. He wanted to see her smile again.

"Inoue, I love you." He cupped her face. "Can't you feel that?" He put her hands on his chest, right where his heart was. "Can't you feel the way my heart is racing because of you? Can't you see how I'm so crazily in love with you?"

"I'm sorry." Her eyes were wet with tears again. "I'm sorry but I do not love you, Kurosaki-kun. I will not leave my husband. What we are doing is wrong. I cannot hurt you. If I cannot leave my husband, I have no right to be with you. In fact, I'm not worthy to be with you. I'm dirty, fifthty, sinful, disgusting."

He captured her lips again. "I see none of that. All I see is you and you alone. Be with me." He murmured, almost like begging.

She shook her head. "I'm sorry, Kurosaki-kun. Please leave."

The world shattered and turned into a million pieces, falling like rain onto his heart.

XxXxXxXxX

Aizen traced his fingers around the glass of wine, the divorce papers on the table. He would free her. He had to free her. He had no right to cage her in the darkness any more. He had to let her bathe in the light again.

He had seen last night how her features had degraded, fallen. Her soul impaired. The moment she stepped into the room last night, he had felt something different about her. The once vivid eyes were now hollow and empty. The face that was full of life now looked...dead. It was not merely a sorrow anymore. It had begun to seep into her, the guilt of something that she did not commit. She had no reason to bear the sins with him. She had no reason to live in guilt and resentment for the rest of her life.

He thought about it again and again. She was his light, but he was her darkness, and it was unfair. He loved her, immensely so, therefore, he would make her happy, for to love was to make sacrifices, to make the one he loved happy. She was the only one he had in this world, the only one who had faith in him, who trusted him with all of her heart no matter what happened- the one who would stand by his side even if the whole world turned against him. Why had he been so blind? Why did he turn his back against someone who loved him so much, someone who was willing to forsake her life for him without hesitation, someone who was willing to lose her soul to the darkness rather than to ever leave him? Why had he offered her nothing but pain and misery?

XxXxXxXx

"What did you promise Momo that day, Orihime?" Aizen asked, his arms wrapping around his wife's waist on the balcony. The warmness of the day soon ended, replaced by the coldness of the night.

"Um." She looked reluctant. "Nothing much."

"I know you two promised something."

She sighed, her eyes gazing at the horizontal. "I promised I would take good care of you no matter what happened." She made a weird sound in her throat. "There were times that I forced myself to forget that promise, but even so, I would never bring myself to leave you, promises or not."

"Dismiss it." He brought her hand up and kissed the back of her hand. "Forget about that promise."

"She also gave me the evidence of your crime, telling me that if you became too evil, to help her to bring that proof to the light."

"Do you want me to be in jail?" He curled his fingers into hers.

"Does it matter what I want?"

"Yes. If you tell me to be in jail, then I'll do so."

"You are not yourself today." She turned her gaze back to the reddened clouds again.

"It's true. I have been thinking a lot recently, about you and me, about my life. About the magnitude of danger I put you in, about all those things that I keep on doing that have put a tremendous stress on you. And I see no point. I don't know what I am doing anymore. What if I get all power of this world? What if I'm the wealthiest and most powerful man? It means nothing to me if you are not by my side, happy for me. It means nothing if it makes you unhappy. It means hell if it turns you into something...irreversible broken...permanently damaged".

He brushed his lips on her head, "I forgot that more than ten years ago, I met an angel that brought light into my life, so I did all of these stupid things that blew the light of my angel away. But remembering that, today I could decide what to do with my life for the better, I could choose the path to go in the future."

Orihime squeezed his hands, "then we'll make the future together."

"No, I'll have to leave you." He turned her to face him, "but I will not be in jail though. I'll use the time I'm not in jail to do something more useful, to help others to create their own future."

"Sousuke. Why?"

"Recently I had a weird dream, and it repeated again and again, it was like a premonition. I was surrounded by the cops. They caged me in well, they had all the evidence against me, but I resisted. Then one cop shot at me. At that time, you ran into me and took the shot for me."

She wrapped her arms around his waist. "It was just a dream."

"I have never cried before, Orihime, but I wept so hard that night in the dream and when I woke up. In my dream, I cried "I'll change a hundred times, no a thousand times for you, Orihime. Just don't leave me, don't leave this world."

She pulled him closer, tears in her eyes and kissed him with so much passion he thought he would die.

"When I woke up, sweat still ran like rain on my body." He continued, "I did a lot of bad things, and I do not mind it one bit if I'm the one who pays for all of that, but..." his voice trembled, "my world will be hell if you are the one who has to pay for that, to pay for my crimes. The price is too high, I cannot risk losing you. It's not too late, I can still change and be redeemed for my crimes."

He gave her one of his hands, smiling "Orihime, dance with me."

And they danced on the balcony under the sunset until their legs went weak and they could not move. The music of the souls resonated, intertwined, mixed. The last light of the day died on them, and they smiled at each other. The end of the day was the beginning of the night. Who would prefer the day over the night, claiming that light was good and dark was evil, day was good and night was evil? If there was no darkness, then how would people know that light was the light? So one could say if there was no darkness, there was no light. If there was no night, then there was no day. By the end of a tired day, one sat back and thought about their day. They used their night to reconcile their soul, reflecting back the mistakes they made during the day, so that by the end of the night and the beginning of the next day, they could start something anew- they could become something better, more beautiful...

He held her in his arms one last time. "Orihime, I love you" He gave her one last kiss. "Let's break up."

"Let me go with you." She gazed into his eyes, and he saw the light had come back to her eyes. He was glad that it had come back to her eyes.

"No." He placed a kiss on her head. "If you were to stay with me, you'll just put on your shoulders burdens that are not your own. You could never leave the past. Let us part. Let me redeem myself. I'll change the world into the better, not by force, not by violence, but by intelligence and the will to change. I'll not use piteous means like threats and deceptions to control this world. I'm tired of controlling people, I'm tired of hurting people. I'm tired of hurting you." His eyes went dark. "I'll lead the world to change by itself, to the better."

Orihime chuckled, "You're ambitious even when you want to do good."

Aizen raised her chin up, "I'll never say that I'll do good, Orihime. This is the last time I remind you. There is nothing such as good and evil in this world, but thinking makes it so. But I promise you, I won't hurt people any more. I'll resign and leave the organization. And I'll do all of these things for you, Orihime. I do this for you. You are the one who made me change, the one who saved countless lives and souls of the future, so please, let them go, the sins that you did not commit, let them go out of your soul."

XxXxXxXxX

Ichigo leaned his back against the wall, waiting for Rukia to step out of the prison. She stretched her arms and yawned, "Hey, Ichigo."

Forcing a smile, he greeted back, "Hey, Rukia. Congra..."

But before he could finish his sentence, Rukia had slapped him good on his back, "Idiot. What's with the gloomy attitude? Is this how you greet your girlfriend back from prison?"

He just wanted to laugh. She really knew how to make him feel better. She was such a great...friend.

As they walked on the empty street, Rukia asked, "Well, I heard that you had participated in the lamest mission ever known to exist in the police's history?"

He scratched his head, "yeah, I guess so. We are trying to pin down Aizen. But then all of the sudden, he resigned from his corporation and the underground organizations and disappeared. Some rumored he was killed, some said that he was kidnapped, some said he became a hermit. Anyway, in the next few days, some of the cases that involved him were sent to the police, and it appeared that there were a lot of misunderstandings and mistakes on the police's parts. They investigated most of the cases now that new evidence was presented. As a result, a lot of people were cleared of charges, yourself included. However, we still cannot trace anything back to him. Without any evidence against him, and now that he disappeared, of course we'll close his case, but the police will keep an eye on him if he were to appear again."

"Such mysteries huh?"

"Yes." Ichigo said as he stopped walking. "Rukia...I have something I need to tell you."

Rukia turned back, facing him. "I'm listening, Ichigo.'

"I'm sorry but I want to"

"Break up"

"Yes."

She laughed, slapping on his back again, "Then say it louder and clearer, Ichigo. Man up."

"You won't be upset?"

She jumped up and kicked his head with her right leg. "You baka, of course I'm upset. I was just dumped by you."

He looked away, not bothering to massage his head. "I'm sorry."

"What's to be sorry about? Our relationship is more like a sister-brother relationship after all. We haven't even kissed yet."

She turned her back away, her hands clasping behind her back, "I'm just a little bit upset because I was dumped by you. My ego is hurt a little bit, but that is about it. I don't feel hurt or upset like the way girls do when they break up. I don't fear that I'm about to lose you. In fact, I prefer that we'll just be friends."

She turned her head and smiled, "What I really want, after all, is romantic feeling, not friendship."

XxXxXx Ichi (shy shy shy) Hime (shy shy shy) xXxXxXx

One year and one month had passed since the day Aizen left, and Orihime's life had returned to normal. She got used to not having him around. Today she went to Momo's grave again. She put the flowers down and sat herself on the stone. She took the letter Aizen sent her out and read it to Momo.

"_Dear Orihime,_

_It has been more than one year since I last saw you. I think that I should write you now that my life is settled and fairly stable. I'm not gonna tell you where I live. I don't want to see you, ever again, for I fear the moment I see you, I'll want to be with you again, and therefore disturb the peace you no doubt have been trying hard to establish since I left. _

_I'd not say I'm happy because without you, I cannot be happy, but I'm content with the life I'm having now. I returned to being a teacher again. I figure, to change the world, there are many ways: lies, violence, threats, wars... those methods are what I thought were the only ways before, but now when I think back, you could not change something with force. It has to come from the heart. _

_Everyone has their choices, and the way each person chooses to live their lives form the world as we know it is. People that are lacking of mind and determination have more pitiful lives than people that have plenty of the above, so to change the world to a better place is to guide people to choose a better path. That's what I'm doing right now. I'm showing people my vision of the world, but whether they will follow it is another story. I won't do anything to force them, to ask them see the world the way I do, because like I said it has to come from the heart. But I'll live well and show them what should have done. _

_I'm building a lot of schools in the country I'm living in right now. I also began to write my books. I'll go and preach around the world when the time comes. But for now, I'll just enjoy myself and build some of the essential businesses. Power comes with money. If you want to change the world, by violent or peaceful means, you have to have both. _

_Some of my old subordinates follow me regardless...And I have to say, I'm pleased with their performances. _

_I live well. That's all I want to say. _

_And I love you...so...live well too._

_Aizen Sousuke._

Tears ran down her cheeks as she finished the letter. "I love you too, Sousuke."

Orihime took a deep breath and folded the letter into a small chest and put it in her bag. She turned to the grave and bowed, "I just want to share with you his letter. I live well. I work at the schools for the week, and volunteer at the orphanages and community centers during the weekends. I think I could begin to put the stone in my heart down a little bit. I think I could begin to be happy again."

She left the grave and lounged around the older areas of the graveyard, she wanted to pay respect to her brother Sora too. That was when she saw the back of someone she had not met for a year, and her heart skipped a beat.

He just looked so lonely with his back facing her like this. The strong and fearless Ichigo looked so...weak...now. She came closer. He did not cry, but she felt like there were tears in his heart...like they were under a heavy rain. His sorrow swallowed the whole place and wet her eyes with unknown emotion.

"Kurosaki-kun."

He turned his head to face her, surprise in his eyes, but then he turned his head back, facing the grave.

"This is the grave of my mother." He said in his deep voice. "Today is the day she passed away."

She did not know what to say...anything she said would just salt his itching wound, so she kept her silence, but she wanted to be by his side, at least until the rain in his heart lessened.

"Why are you still here?" He asked after a while since she did not leave.

"Do you want me to leave?"

"I don't know."

"I want to be with you."

He turned his face to her, wanting to know what she meant.

"I meant I want to be with you until the rain stopped" she corrected. Her cheeks burned in embarrassment, and she felt like she was 16 again. That was right, Kurosaki-kun was the only one who could make her feel this way. The only one who could make her heart race this fast, the only one who could make her feel like home, reminding her how to be herself again.

"The rain?" He scowled, confusion in his voice.

.

"Not the real rain." She waved her hands in panic, the red shade on her cheeks deepened, but then she cast her eyes down and murmured, 'but the rain in your heart."

"In my heart." He looked away, "I see. You can see the rain in my heart?"

"No, but I can feel it." She moved her hand, wanted to touch him, but decided against it and clasped her hands together behind her back instead.

"What can you feel?" he said bitterly.

She unclasped her hands and reached for him. Her fingers rubbed his fingers, but he did not seem to be bothered by it, so she slipped her fingers in between his long, cold fingers and got closer to his body, her shoulder touching his arm. "Then, why don't you tell me?"

HIs fingers curled and he held her hand tight in his. "I was there when my mother died. In some way, I always think she died because of me."

He looked at the sky, his eyes seemed to be sucked into some distant memories. "We was walking on the street that day. Everything was so normal. People chatting, laughing, walking. But then suddenly there was a man running and a group of men chasing after him, and...it appeared that they all had guns. It was a street fight between the gangs."

"I was stupid back then." He abruptly broke the hold of their hands, "I was scared, weak, stupid. My legs could not move..." He buried his head in his hands, "if only I could have moved then, if only I could have listened to my mother's voice, but I could not hear anythings. I..."

She could not stand it anymore. If only could she do anything for him, if only could she stop his rain.

She hugged him, deep and firm in her arms, and she cried like she had not cried for a long, long time. "It was not your fault, Kurosaki-kun. It was..."

"It was my fault." He gripped the back of her sweater, still holding her tight in his arms. "My mother died because of me. She died, protecting me. She took the shot for me, and I could not do a thing, but see her collapse on the ground, leaving this world, leaving me." His body trembled in resentment. "It was all because of me, because I was weak and useless."

She shook her head in his chest but did not say anything, she did not know what to say, and they stayed like that for a while until he took his arms off her and tried to push her away.

"Don't be so nice to me. All I did was take advantage of you." He stepped further away from her. "I'm a policeman, a spy that was planted near you in an attempt to gather information against your husband. I used you, lied to you, deceived you."

"It's ok, Kurosaki-kun.' She smiled and wiped her tears away, "because I lied to you too."

She stepped closer to him. "I lied by saying that I didn't love you."

She did not know what made she say that, but she could not bring herself to lie to him any further, she could not lie to her heart any further. To be a stronger person, she first had to be honest with herself and those that were important to her. If she could not face her heart properly, then how could she be stronger; how could she redeem the mistakes of her past; how could she live better, for Sora, for Sousuke, and especially for herself; how could she purify the darkness of her soul?

"So you love me. I thought that you loved your husband?" He looked at her intensely in her eyes, searching for an answer.

"I love Sousuke, now and forever, nothing can change that, and no one can take his place in my heart." She touched at her heart, "he is irreplaceable, like Sora, my brother, like my late parents. They are parts of my family, they are parts of myself. But I cannot deny the feelings I have toward you. It is so pure, so natural, so obvious that it's just wrong if I dismiss it and lie to you. I'm always myself when I'm with you. With you, I feel like I'm home, like where I really belong. The light comes and I cannot stop smiling when I see you. All troubles are gone when I see that scowl on your face, and I feel like nothing could go wrong because you are with me. I can do anything with you by my side. That's the magnitude of my feeling for you, Kurosaki Ichigo."

He hugged her again, "then don't just be with me until the rain stops, because you are the only one who could bring the sun back to me, and when you're gone, it's rainning again. Stay with me."

"Then I will, until the sun shines again for us both, and beyond that. I'll never leave your side, ever again."

~~~~Fin ~~~~

* * *

><p><strong>AN**: The only explanation I could give for this unexpected ending is that I didn't even expect it myself. I planed to have a tragedy ending, but then the story just went by it own and decided that this was the way it wanted to end.

I know it might be a little sappy for some of the scene, but I like this ending and can't wait to hear what you think of it.


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